midday
There is a simple intuition of friendship in some lonely , self-abstracted natures that is nearly akin to love at first sight . Even the audacities and insolence of this stranger affected Morse as he might have been touched and captivated by the coquetries or imperiousness of some bucolic virgin . And this reserved and shy frontiersman found himself that night sleepless , and hovering with an abashed timidity and consciousness around the wagon that sheltered his guest , as if he had been a very Corydon watching the moonlit couch of some slumbering Amaryllis . He was off by daylight -- after having placed a rude breakfast by the side of the still sleeping guest -- and before midday he had returned with a horse . When he handed the stranger his pouch , less the amount he had paid for the horse , the man said curtly : `` What 's that for ? '' `` Your change . I paid only fifty dollars for the horse . ''