noon
These boys had a sister , and what was more natural than that Dave should drown his loneliness in such company ? But this time he did not ride southward over the hills . He moped around the ranch buildings , sat moodily by the little stream , casting pebbles in the water , or rode over the old trails on which she had so often been his companion . The season was bright with all the glory of the foothill September ; the silver dome of heaven , cloudless morning and noon , ripened with the dying day into seas of gold on which floated cloud-islands of purple and amethyst , and through the immeasurable silence of the night moon and stars bathed the deep valleys in celestial effulgence . But in the heart of the boy was neither sun , nor moon , nor stars , but only the black gulfs of loneliness from which his light had gone out . Then the old man 's horse came home . Dave saw it coming up the trail , not running wildly , but with nervous gallop and many sidelong turnings of the head .