noon
`` If you are not I shall set sail without you , for I have seen some of the Chilian spies around today . '' `` You need not wait any longer than sunset , '' said Jack , who could not blame the other for his impatience . Losing no more time , Jack mounted a fleet pony that he had hired at an exorbitant price , and set out for De la Pama at a furious pace . Toward noon he was gladdened by the sight of an inhabitant of the town whom he knew , and who was on his way to Cobija . Halting the Peruvian he inquired of him in regard to Plum . This fellow , who knew Plum well , replied that he had seen him in town , and that he had left two days before . Upon second thought , he volunteered the startling information that news had come of an American being waylaid and killed by a party of bush-raiders a dozen miles east of De la Pama !