noon
In observation the mountaineer is always minute ; each day is a volume unto itself , and in this book abound many pictures . In a thorn-bush the old woman saw a mocking-bird feeding her young ; in the dust she saw where a snake had smoothed his way across the road . She halted to look at a bare-legged boy , who with his straw hat was seining a rivulet . Telling the time by the sun , she dismounted at noon and in the shade of a wild plum thicket , ate her luncheon , while the mare cropped the sweet road-side grass . But it was not intended that her journey should be without event . Along toward four o'clock she came to a bridge across a small stream . The planks were worn with heavy hauling -- the whole thing dangerous , and into a hole the mare 's foot sank .