noon
`` Break camp , '' he ordered . Riggs had probably not heard that last exchange between Anson and Wilson , for he had walked a few rods aside to get his horse . In a few moments when they started off , Burt , Jones , and Moze were in the lead driving the pack-horses , Anson rode next , the girl came between him and Riggs , and significantly , it seemed , Jim Wilson brought up the rear . This start was made a little after the noon hour . They zigzagged up the slope , took to a deep ravine , and followed it up to where it headed in the level forest . From there travel was rapid , the pack-horses being driven at a jogtrot . Once when a troop of deer burst out of a thicket into a glade , to stand with ears high , young Burt halted the cavalcade .