midday
`` Talk about fields of ice , Dick ! Just look around us ! '' It was Sam who spoke . The party had come to a halt for the midday meal . They had stopped in the shelter of some big rocks , now thickly covered with snow and ice . Snow and ice were on all sides -- the latter glistening brightly in the sunshine . It was a wonderful transformation from the green and brown that had decked the landscape before winter had set in so suddenly .