noon
`` What a wonderful soul those eyes portray , '' she thought , `` and how perfectly they assure the safety of my life and honor while their owner is near me . '' And the man thought : `` Would that I owned a soul that I might aspire to live always near her -- always to protect her . '' When they had eaten the two set out once more in search of the river , and the confidence that is born of ignorance was theirs , so that beyond each succeeding tangled barrier of vines and creepers they looked to see the swirling stream that would lead them to the girl 's father . On and on they trudged , the man often carrying the girl across the rougher obstacles and through the little streams that crossed their path , until at last came noon , and yet no sign of the river they sought . The combined jungle craft of the two had been insufficient either to trace the way that they had come , or point the general direction of the river . As the afternoon drew to a close Virginia Maxon commenced to lose heart -- she was confident that they were lost . Bulan made no pretence of knowing the way , the most that he would say being that eventually they must come to the river .