noon
He was all sailor , and though the times demanded that every man who travelled cross-country must do it in the saddle , the lank New Englander would have ridden a gale any day in preference to a steed . Even Jeremy could afford to laugh at the sorry figure his big friend made . The trail they followed was no more than a rough cutting , eight or ten feet wide , running through the forest . Here and there paths branched off to right or left and up one of these Bob turned at noon . It led them over a wooded hill , then down a long slope into the valley of a stream . `` John Cantwell 's plantation . We 'll stop here for a bite to eat , '' explained the boy .