noon
They slept . The night wind swished the grasses ; dark storm clouds blotted out the northern stars ; the prairie wolves mourned dismally . Day broke cold , wan , threatening , under a leaden sky . The hunters traveled thirty miles by noon , and halted in a hollow where a stream flowed in wet season . Cottonwood trees were bursting into green ; thickets of prickly thorn , dense and matted , showed bright spring buds . `` What is it ? '' suddenly whispered Rude .