noon
But when gossip Sedgett went his rounds , telling that Robert was down among them again upon the darkest expedition their minds could conceive , and rode out every morning for the purpose of encountering one of the gentlemen up at Fairly , and had already pulled him off his horse and laid him in the mud , calling him scoundrel and challenging him either to yield his secret or to fight ; and that he followed him , and was out after him publicly , and matched himself against that gentleman , who had all the other gentlemen , and the earl , and the law to back him , the little place buzzed with wonder and alarm . Faint hearts declared that Robert was now done for . All felt that he had gone miles beyond the mark . Those were the misty days when fogs rolled up the salt river from the winter sea , and the sun lived but an hour in the clotted sky , extinguished near the noon . Robert was seen riding out , and the tramp of his horse was heard as he returned homeward . He called no more at the Pilot . Darkness and mystery enveloped him .