noon
`` Would n't it be a great thing if we did happen on a real bear while we were out on this hike ? '' suggested Billy Button , who was rather given to stretches of imagination , and seeing things where they did not exist . So they beguiled the time away as they tramped along . Gradually they approached the great gloomy looking mountain , and it was seen that by the time they stopped for their noon meal they would probably be at its foot . Tom and Carl were walking together , for somehow the boys seemed to pair off as a general thing . Carl was looking brighter now , as though in the excitement of the start he might have temporarily forgotten his troubles . `` There do n't seem to be so many farms up this way as we thought , '' Tom observed as they found themselves walking close beside a stretch of woodland , with a gully on the other side of the road .