noon
They hev sech graceful ways with 'em , kinder grand ones tew , specially them bucks , with their crests reared up agin the sky , lookin ' so bold and free like . And them bright little does , -- sometimes they hev sech a skeerd , tender look in their eyes , -- and I 've seen the tears roll out on 'em , when they lay wounded and disabled like , jest like a human critter . It allers makes me feel kind o ' puggetty to see that '' . They made a noon halt , in the shadows cast by a clump of silver birches , and did ample justice to the provision supplied from the pantry of the Dubois house . At four o'clock they proceeded onward towards the deer hunt . John listened with unwearied interest to Micah 's stories of peril and hair-breadth ` scapes , by flood , field , and forest , gathering many valuable hints in the science of woodcraft from the practised hunter . Just at dark , they reached a broad part of the stream , and selected their camping-ground .