noon
`` No , '' he declared , `` not without you . That 's out of the question . If there were no other reason , we should have to come back here for you , and I expect that in the daylight we shall find a shorter way up . It will be noon anyway before we get there , and you would n't wish to keep your friends waiting longer . '' Ida rose with an effort , and clung heavily to his arm when they crept downward again ; but the light grew a little clearer as they proceeded , and the sound of the river rang louder in their ears . Then , in the gray of the morning , they staggered out upon the bank of the river . Walking , half awake , Ida floundered among the boulders and through a horrible maze of whitened driftwood cast up by the stream .