noon
And the next day they would reach Cragg 's Ridge ! Half of that last night he sat up , awake , or smoked in the glow of his fire , waiting for the dawn . With the first lifting of darkness he was traveling swiftly ahead of Peter and the morning was only half gone when he saw far ahead of him the great ridge which shut out Indian Tom 's swamp , and Nada 's plain , and Cragg 's Ridge beyond it . It was noon when he stood at the crest of this . He was breathing hard , for to reach this last precious height from which he might look upon the country of Nada 's home he had half run up its rock-strewn side . There , with his lungs gasping for air , his eager eyes shot over the country below him and for a moment the significance of the thing which he saw did not strike him . And then in another instant it seemed that his heart choked up , like a fist suddenly tightened , and stopped its beating .