noon
During the night the snow turned to rain . The rain , in turn , ceased before dawn and the camp woke to winding mists that whirled with the wind up and out of the Canyon top . The going , during the morning , offered no great difficulties . But toward noon , as the boats rounded a curve , a reef presented itself with the water of the river boiling threateningly on either side . As the Canyon walls offered no landing it was necessary to make one here and Forrester volunteered to jump with a rope to a flat rock which projected from the near end of the reef . `` Leap just before we are opposite the rock , Forr , '' directed Milton . `` When that rough water catches us , we 're going to rip through at top speed . ''