noon
Once more Pat found himself following an unmarked and desolate trail . Moving always at a walk now instead of the conventional fox-trot , he found his service , save for this and one other thing , identical with that under his previous masters . The single other difference was that instead of irritating silence , these men unwittingly soothed him with their talk and swift exchange of jokes . Thus the hours passed , until noon came , when , with his bridle and saddle removed , and pungent odors of savory cooking tickling his nostrils , he received the privilege of grazing over the whole desert unhobbled and untethered . But this , liberal as it seemed , brought him nothing of the nourishment his soul craved . After an hour or two of lazy wandering , while the men passed the time at cards , he was sent forward again along the ever-mysterious trail . And thus he moved , through the long hot afternoon , the cool and lingering twilight , on to a night camp where once more he was turned loose with the other horses to glean as best he might life-giving sustenance from the scant herbage .