noon
`` Well , I reckon some o ' those lads would make putty good soldiers , were they put to it . They handle their guns like veterans . '' The cadets marched until ten o'clock and then stopped for a brief rest near a fine hillside spring , where all procured a drink . Then they moved forward again until noon , when they reached a small village where dinner already awaited them . `` We have covered twelve miles , '' said Captain Putnam . `` Eight more , and the day 's march will be over . '' The cadets were glad enough to eat their dinner and take it easy on the porch of the old country hotel at which they had stopped .