noon
`` The way things is , there ai n't no profit skeercely in nothin ' . '' They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat , while the old man continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own commodity , and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over the hilly road . The mountains had been left behind , and all over the rolling hillsides about them on either hand the vineyards stretched in undulating lines , each heavy with the load of purpling grapes . Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon ; noon came , and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead . At last , on the rise of a hill , the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip to the spreading sweep of brick buildings fronting on the river 's edge below . `` There 's the town , '' he announced , adding , with a touch of regret : `` We 're ahead of time , after all , an ' I could have unloaded by myself . Well , it do n't matter noways except for the extra drag on the horses .