noon
`` He is sinking , failing rapidly , '' they said , `` to-night will be the crisis , the turning point ; unless there is a change then for the better , he will never see the dawning of another day . '' To Mrs. Cameron , journeying westward with Morton Rutherford , the moments had seemed like hours , the hours like days , since learning for whose sake had come the summons to that distant country . Only the speed of the lightning could have satisfied the heart of the mother hastening to her long-lost son . They had been kept informed along the route of Guy 's condition , and now , upon their arrival at Silver City , on the noon train , they found a special car awaiting them , to convey them at once to the Y , which had been ordered by telegraphic dispatch from Mr. Cameron . The watchers by the bedside heard the sound of swiftly approaching wheels ; Mr. Cameron and Houston stepped quickly out to greet the sweet-faced woman hastening toward the house on the arm of Morton Rutherford . `` Am I in time ? Is our boy still living ? ''