noon
As she lay , the elation of the early morning left her . More and more surely the conviction came to her that the Apache 's boast was true ; that no white could catch him on his own ground . Dizzy and ill from the heat , she closed her eyes and lay without hope or coherent thought . At noon they stopped for a short time that Rhoda might eat . Their resting-place was in the shadow of a beetling , weather-beaten rock that still bore traces of hieroglyphic carvings . There were broken bits of clay pots among the tufts of cactus . Rhoda stared at them languidly and wondered what the forgotten vessels could have contained in a region so barren of life or hope .