about noon
The women and children slept peacefully in the wagons , or in their blankets before the fires , and the clear dawn came , silver at first and then gold under a sky of blue . The `` eyes '' of the train had come in as before , and taken their nap , and now were up and watching once more . Breakfast over , the drivers swung their whips , called cheerfully to their horses , and the wagons , again in three close files , resumed the march . `` We 'll strike the ford about noon to-day , '' said Dick Salter to Daniel Poe . `` I wish we were safely on the other side , '' said Daniel Poe , in the exact words of the day before . `` So do I , '' repeated Dick Salter . The wagons moved forward undisturbed , their wheels rolling easily over the soft turf , and some of the women , forgetting their alarms , softly sang songs of their old homes in the East .