noon
He drove on , making inquiries at each farmhouse and of every person whom he encountered . Shortly after crossing the branch , he met a young negro with a cartload of tubs and buckets and piggins , and asked him if he had seen on the road a young white woman with dark eyes and hair , apparently sick or demented . The young man answered in the negative , and Tryon pushed forward anxiously . At noon he stopped at a farmhouse and swallowed a hasty meal . His inquiries here elicited no information , and he was just leaving when a young man came in late to dinner and stated , in response to the usual question , that he had met , some two hours before , a young woman who answered Tryon 's description , on the Lillington road , which crossed the main road to Patesville a short distance beyond the farmhouse . He had spoken to the woman . At first she had paid no heed to his question .