noon
They had climbed to fresh altitudes ; the timber through which they progressed indicated that a height of at least seven thousand feet above sea-level had been passed . They passed through groves of the thin-barked tamaracks , came at the base of a rugged slope to scattering mountain pines , which reared into lusty perfection on bleak , wind-swept levels , where many of their companion growths were beginning to run out in dwarfed , twisted misery , and came to a rocky pass through the mountains where on all sides the red cedar , the juniper of the Sierra , throve hardily among bare boulders , crowning the lofty crests like a sparse , stiff , hirsute display upon the gigantic body of the world . The dwarf pine lingered here , straggling along the slopes , beaten down by many a winter of wind and heavy snow . But by noon they had made a slow , tedious way down a rocky ridge and were once more in the heart of the upper forest belt . In an upland meadow , through whose narrow boundaries a thin , cold stream trickled , they nooned . Long had Gloria hungered for the moment when she would see King swing down from the saddle ; during the last half-hour she had begun to fear that his brutality knew no bounds and that he would spare neither the horses nor her but crowd on until nightfall . When he did dismount by the creek she drew rein fifty feet from him .