noon
Then would come a patch of Jack-pine , where trees seven to ten feet high grew in such profusion that it was well-nigh impossible to find a passage between them ; and on the heels of this would follow a stretch of muskeg , quaking underfoot , and full of boggy traps for the unwary . In the larger timber also , the deadfalls presented an immense difficulty . Trees , with their span of life exhausted , year after year , had dropped where they stood , and dragging others down in their fall , cumbered the ground in all directions , sometimes presenting tangled barriers which it was necessary to climb over , a method not unaccompanied by danger , since in the criss-cross of the branches and trunks a fall would almost inevitably have meant a broken limb . The ground they travelled over was uneven , intersected here and there by gullies , which were only to be skirted by great expense of time and energy , and the crossing of which was sometimes dangerous , but had perforce to be accomplished , and by noon , when they reached the bank of a small stream , the girl was exhausted and her face wore a strained look . Stane saw it , and halting , took off his pack . `` Time for grub , '' he said . Then unstrapping his pack he stretched a blanket on the sloping ground .