noon
Men had given up hope of finding him alive and unharmed . They searched now for his body . And then the three women who lived with Miss Allen began to inquire about the girl , and so the warning went out that Miss Allen was lost ; and they began looking for her also . Miss Allen , along towards noon of that fourth day , found a small stream of water that was fit to drink . Beside the stream she found the footprints of a child , and they looked quite fresh -- as if they had been made that day . She whipped up her flagging energy and went on hopefully . It was a long while afterwards that she met him coming down a canyon on his horse .