noon
But it was certainly a big bear , and filled the whole wagon-box . Ollie sidled through the crowd and asked so many questions of the man , who was named Reynolds , that he good-naturedly gave Ollie one of the largest of the claws . It was five inches long . At noon we went down to the camp of the freighters on the outskirts of town , near Rapid Creek . There must have been fifty `` outfits '' -- Jack said that was the right word -- and several hundred mules , as many oxen , and a few horses . The animals were , most of them , wandering about wherever they pleased , the mules and horses taking their dinner out of nosebags , and the mules keeping up a gentle exercise by kicking at one another . It seemed a hopeless confusion , but the men were sitting about on the ground , calmly cooking their dinners over little camp-fires .