noon
`` Like as not , bud , '' Pros assented gravely . `` Me and Johnnie is goin ' up to look after the old house , but we allowed to sleep to-night at Bushares 's . Time enough to git to our place to-morrow . '' Johnnie , who knew that her uncle hoped to reach the Consadine cabin by noon , instantly understood that he considered the possibility of this boy being a sort of picket posted to interview passers-by ; and that the intention was to misinform him , so that he should not carry news of their approach . After this , they met no one , but swung on at their best pace , and for the most part in silence , husbanding strength and breath . Twelve o'clock saw them entering that gash of the hills where the little cabin crouched against the great mountain wall . The ground became so rocky , that the track of the automobile was lost .