noon
He was always the first to discover a snake in the road , too , and kept a great stick with which to kill them . He seemed to have no fear of them , but walked up to lay them out , and on one occasion the colonel warned him just in time or he would certainly have been bitten by a snake whose bite is certain death . This experience made him more careful , but he still kept his place at the head of the regiment , and came to be called the mascot by the men . At noon the regiment halted at a grassy spot , where there were trees , and made their dinners from their knapsacks . The officers warned them to go carefully , or they would find themselves without provisions before returning to Manila , for they had been so sure of catching the rebels at the town behind that they had neglected to bring along many supplies . Now , of course , they did n't know how long it would take them to find them , -- two days at least , and probably longer . Archie had stocked his knapsack with some food from the old headquarters in the town , so that he felt safe for a few days , at any rate .