noon
The cattle were past , and the drays had arrived at where we stood . With many a hearty farewell , having given a promise to come over and spend Christmas-day with them , I turned my horse 's head homewards and went on my solitary way . I must leave them to go their way towards their new home , and follow my own fortunes a little , for that afternoon I met with an adventure quite trifling indeed , but which is not altogether without interest in this story . I rode on till high noon , till having crossed the valley of the Belloury , and followed up one of its tributary creeks , I had come on to the water system of another main river , and the rapid widening of the gully whose course I was pursuing assured me that I could not be far from the main stream itself . At length I entered a broad flat , intersected by a deep and tortuous creek , and here I determined to camp till the noon-day heat was past , before I continued my journey , calculating that I could easily reach home the next day . Having watered my horse , I turned him loose for a graze , and , making such a dinner as was possible under the circumstances , I lit a pipe and lay down on the long grass , under the flowering wattle-trees , smoking and watching the manoeuvres of a little tortoise , who was disporting himself in the waterhole before me . Getting tired of that I lay back on the grass , and watched the green leaves waving and shivering against the clear blue sky , given up entirely to the greatest of human enjoyments -- the after dinner pipe , the pipe of peace .