Noon
At last , by watching him I , too , came to learn his secret and was charmed to find that it made my pace both quiet and swift . Indeed , I took great care to practice this silent trail walking -- a knack that can be acquired only by the closest observation ; for a hundred books could not teach a hundredth part as much as a ten-mile hike at the heels of a trained woodsman when he is trying to go noiselessly . Finally he turned and looked at me , saying : `` You do good now . '' Noon brought us to a higher country whose beauty could not be surpassed . Dark and cool it was , even dismal without bringing depression . The mid-day suns of a hundred years must have been tempered to the aisles of this wild cathedral by venerable specimens of mahogany and black olive trees ; and , where the branches of these did not touch , rose the slenderer red ironwood . The mahoganies , alone , stood as a proof that we were entering a region which had escaped the eyes of white man for -- how long ?