Noon
In the little tepee , sheltered by an overhanging rock , the Girl was still sleeping ; and the man , sitting opposite the mound of earth and rock on which it was built , was Johnson . A week had passed since the lovers had left Cloudy Mountain , and each day , at the moment when the sun burst above the snow-capped mountains , found them up and riding slowly eastward . No attempt whatever was made at haste , but , instead , now climbing easily to the top of the passes , now descending into the valleys , they rode slowly on , ever loathe to leave behind them the great forests and high mountains . Noon of each day found them always resting in some glen where the sun made golden lacework of the branches over their heads ; while at the approach of night when the great orb was no longer to be seen through the tree-tops and twilight was fast settling upon the woods , they would halt near a pool of a dancing brook where , with the relish of fatigue , they would partake of their rations ; and then , when the silences came on , Johnson would proceed to put up with loving skill the Girl 's rude quarters and , stretching himself out on a gentle slope , covered with pine needles matted close together , the man and the Girl would go to sleep listening to the music of the stream as it gurgled and dashed along , foaming and leaping , over the rocks and beneath the little patches of snow forgotten by the sun . And to these two , whether in the depths of the vast forest or , as now , at the edge of the merciless desert , stretching away like a world without end , their environment seemed nothing less than a paradise . There were moments , however , in the long days , which could be devoted to reflection ; and often Johnson pondered over the strange fate that had brought him under the influence -- an influence which held him now and which he earnestly prayed would continue to hold him -- and into close relationship with a character so different from his own . A contemplation of his past life was wholly unnecessary , for the realisation had come to him that it was her personality alone that had awakened his dormant sense of what was right and what was wrong , and changed the course of his life .