noon
I hope nobody will shoot at them ! '' exclaimed Mr. Clarence , suddenly breaking off in his discourse to point to the denizens of the thicket and the prairie , until upon some sudden impulse the whole herd turned and bounded away . So they fared on through that glorious autumn day -- over the vast , rolling , solitary prairie -- now rising to a smooth , gradual elevation that revealed the circle of the whole horizon where it met the sky ; now descending into a wide , shallow hollow , where the rising ground around inclosed them as in an amphitheater ; but everywhere along the trail , the prairie grass , dried and burnished by the autumn 's suns and winds , burned like gold on the hills and bronze in the hollows , giving a singularly beautiful effect in light and shade of mingling metallic hues . At noon the captain ordered a halt , and all the teams were drawn up in a line ; and all the men got out to feed and water the horses and mules , and to prepare their own dinner . They were now beside a clear , deep , narrow stream , a tributary of the Kansas River , running through a picturesque valley , carpeted with long grass , and bordered with low , well-wooded hills on either side . The burnished gold and bronze of the long dried grass on the river 's brim , dotted here and there with a late scarlet prairie flower , the brilliant crimson and purple of the autumn foliage that clothed the trees , the bright blue of the sky and the soft white of the few downy clouds floating overhead , and all reflected and duplicated in the river below , made a beauty and glory of color that must have delighted the soul of an artist , and pleased the eye of even the most careless observer . Mike O'Reilly , the captain 's orderly , was busy spreading a table cloth on the grass , at the foot of a hill on the right , and old John , Mr. Clarence 's man , was emulating Mike by spreading a four-yard square of white damask at a short distance behind him .