noon
During the first half-dozen miles of the way , though each one manfully did his best to be lively , a sense of loss made their fun flat and pointless . Royal 's tear-away tongue , his brothers ' racket , Joe 's racy talk , Uncle Eb 's kind , dark face , and more than all , Doc 's companionship , which was as tonic to the hearts of those who travelled with him , were missed . But spirits must be elastic in forest air . When they halted at noon to eat their `` snack '' on the side of a breezy knoll , with a tiny brook purling through a pine grove beneath them , with Katahdin 's rugged sides and cloud-veiled peaks looming in majesty to the north , the thought of what lay behind was inevitably lost in what lay before . Enthusiasm replaced depression . `` It 's no use grizzling because we ca n't have those fellows with us all the time , '' remarked Neal philosophically . '' 'T was a big piece of luck our running against them at all .