noon
`` Queer how heavy those old packs do get the longer you carry them , '' observed George , as he waited for his turn to lie down and drink his fill of the spring water . `` You 're a suspicious sort of fellow , George , '' declared Felix ; `` I 've seen you turn around as quick as a flash , just as if you thought some other scout might be hanging his pack on to yours , so as to make you carry double . '' George turned redder than he had already become under the force of the sun ; but he did not deny the accusation . It was decided not to light a fire at noon . They could eat a cold lunch and wash it down with water . `` We 'll keep our fire for this evening , '' said Mr. Witherspoon ; `` you know it is generally quite a ceremony -- the starting of the first campfire when scouts go off on a long trip . '' Waiting until the sun had started well on his way down the heavens , and there had arisen a little breeze that made it more bearable , the scout master finally had Felix sound his fish horn for the signal to `` fall in . ''