midday
After a pause in the stream they drew out on the farther bank , where were open spaces among cottonwood trees , and Transley indicated that this would be their camping ground . Already smoke was issuing from the chuck wagon , and in a few minutes the men 's sleeping tent and the two stable tents were flashing back the afternoon sun . They carried no eating tent ; instead of that an eating wagon was backed up against the chuck wagon , and the men were served in it . They had not paused for a midday meal ; the cook had provided sandwiches of bread and roast beef to dull the edge of their appetite , and now all were keen to fall to as soon as the welcome clanging of the plow-colter which hung from the end of the chuck wagon should give the signal . Presently this clanging filled the evening air with sweet music , and the men filed with long , slouchy tread into the eating wagon . The table ran down the centre , with bench seats at either side . The cook , properly gauging the men 's appetites , had not taken time to prepare meat and potatoes , but on the table were ample basins of graniteware filled with beans and bread and stewed prunes and canned tomatoes , pitchers of syrup and condensed milk , tins with marmalade and jam , and plates with butter sadly suffering from the summer heat .