noon
It made an extra burden , but they had been unwilling to throw it away -- a rifle was far too valuable on the border to be abandoned . They maintained a good pace until noon , and , as they heard no sound behind them , less experienced foresters than they might have thought the pursuit had ceased , but they knew better . It had merely settled into that tenacious kind which was a characteristic of the Indian mind , and unless they could hide their trail it would continue in the same determined manner for days . At noon , they paused a half hour in a dense grove and ate bear and deer meat , sauced with some fine , black wild grapes , the vines hanging thick on one of the trees . `` Think of those splendid banquets we enjoyed when Garay was sitting looking at us , though not sharing with us , '' said Robert . Tayoga smiled at the memory and said : `` If he had been able to hold out a little longer he would have had plenty of food , and we would not have had the letter . The Great Bear would never have starved him . ''