noon
He felt the heat intensely . His skin seemed dry and hot , and he slanted his campaign hat low over his eyes to dim the glare of the sun and relieve the strain on his eyeballs , which ached fiercely . His pony , having worked off its excess of spirit , settled down into a tireless pace that tested the picked mounts the planters had selected as their best , and the miles passed in silence save for staccato pounding of hoofs on hard packed earth and the swish of underbrush that lined the narrow crooked trail . At noon he drew up at Sears ' plantation to freshen men and beasts . Sears tore out to meet them , greeted Terry enthusiastically and ran inside again to hurry his cook while Terry superintended the care of the ponies . When Sears ' foreman bore the soldiers into the cookshack for a hot dinner of rice and fish Terry passed up the high stairway and into the cool house , there to sink into a big chair , faint . Sears was energetically speeding his boy in the laying of his `` company '' linens and silver .