about noon
It went on , through long hours of flight , while mountains rose before it . It rose over those mountains and passed over the first railroad line -- the first real sign of civilization since leaving Asunción -- at Mercedes , and reached the Uruguay river where the Mirinjay joins it . It went roaring on down above the valley of the Rio Uruguay for long and tedious hours more . At about noon , lunch was produced . The two men who guarded Bell ate . Then , with drawn revolvers , they unlocked his handcuffs and offered him food . * * * * * He ate , of exactly those foods he had seen them eat .