noon
Strangely picturesque suspension bridges with rough stairways at their ends spanned waters too deep for fording . Frame houses showed along the banks of the creek -- grown here to a river -- unplaned and unpainted of wall , but brightly touched with window-and door-frames of bright yellow or green or blue . This was the territory where the Souths held dominance , and it was pouring out its people . They came before noon to the mouth of Dryhole Creek , and the house of Wile McCager . Already , the picket fence was lined with tethered horses and mules , and a canvas-covered wagon came creeping in behind its yoke of oxen . Men stood clustered in the road , and at the entrance a woman , nursing her baby at her breast , welcomed and gossiped with the arrivals . The house of Wile McCager loaned itself to entertainment .