midday
Love , it appeared , was a thing she did not care to discuss with him on their footing of semi-intimacy . Despite the rough roads , they made fair time , and the miles of cactus and scrawny brush rolled swiftly past . Occasionally a lazy jack-rabbit ambled out of his road-side covert and watched them from a safe distance ; now and then a spotted road-runner raced along the dusty ruts ahead of them . The morning sun swung higher , and by midday the metal of the automobile had become as hot as a frying-pan . They stopped at various goat-ranches to inquire about Adolfo Urbina , and at noon halted beside a watercourse for lunch . Dave was refilling the radiator when he overheard José in conversation with Mrs. Austin . `` Nowhere a trace ! ''