noon
`` A good idea , '' said Thatcher , smilingly , as they drove off . `` Join us ; we get lonesome . '' I laid by that forenoon because one of my mares had limped a little the day before , and I was worrying for fear she might not be perfectly sound . I hitched up after noon and drove on , anxiously watching her to see whether I had not been sucked in on horse flesh , as well as in the general settlement of my mother 's estate . She seemed to be all right , however , and we were making good headway as night drew on , and I was halted by Amos Thatcher who said he was on the lookout for me . `` We have a station off the road a mile or so , '' said he , `` and you 'll have a hearty welcome if you come with me -- stable for your horses , and a bed to sleep in , and good victuals . '' I could n't think what he meant by a station ; but it was about time to make camp anyhow , and so I took him into the wagon with me , and we drove across country by a plain trail , through a beautiful piece of oak openings , to a big log house in a fine grove of burr oaks , with a log barn back of it -- as nice a farmstead as I had seen .