noon
But she was glad , too , when the stream of life had flowed past , and she was left alone with Brick and Bill , for then the never-ending conversation with the former was resumed , picked up at the point where it had been dropped , or drawn forward from raveled bits of unfinished discourse of the day before , and though Bill Atkins said almost nothing and always looked straight ahead , he was , in a way , spice in the feast of her enjoyment . When they stopped for their meals , they drew aside from the trail , if possible near some spring or river-bed in which pools of water lingered , but such stopping-places were far apart in the desert country . At night there was a cheerful bonfire , followed by zestful talk as they lay on the ground , before falling asleep in their tarpaulins -- talk eagerly monopolized by Brick and Lahoma , and to which Atkins seemed in a manner to listen , perhaps warming his heart at the light of their comradeship even as they warmed their hands in the early morning at the breakfast fire . Atkins had brought with him one of his books , and at the noon hour 's rest , and at evening beside the bonfire , he kept his nose buried in its pages . Lahoma did not think life would have been too long to devote to such pilgrimages . In the settlements , she was bewildered , but never satiated , with novelties , and on the way back , everything she had seen was discussed , expounded and classified between her and her `` cousin . '' Sometimes her questions drove Brick up against a stone wall and then Bill Atkins would raise his voice and in three or four words put the matter in its true light .