late noon
`` Now , Jack , '' said Miller , as a final parting , `` if you want a cow , I 'll send one down , or if you need anything , let us know and we 'll come a-running . It 's a bad example you 've set us to go booming this way , but we want to make a howling success out of you , so we can visit you next winter . And mind what I told you about getting married , '' he called back as he rode away . We reached camp by late noon . Miller kept up his talk about what a fine move Jack had made ; said that we must get him a stray beef for his next winter 's meat ; kept figuring constantly what else he could do for Jack . `` You come around in a few years and you 'll find him as cosy as a coon , and better off than any of us , '' said Miller , when we were talking about his farming . `` I 've slept under wet blankets with him , and watched him kindle a fire in the snow , too often not to know what he 's made of .