noon
There 's many a bad night in the history of the pioneers , its shadows falling on lonely , ill-marked roads cut by rivers , creeks and marshes and strung through unnumbered miles of wild country . Samson was up and off at daylight in a bitter wind and six inches of snow . It was a kind of work he would not have undertaken upon any call less commanding than that of friendship . He reached Chicago at noon having had nothing to eat that day . There was no such eager , noisy crowd in the streets as he had seen before . The fever of speculation had passed . Some of the stores were closed ; he counted a score of half-built structures getting weather-stained inside and out .