noon
It was full of water , hardly clear , but plentiful , and slowly washing out a bigger pool for itself as it seeped forth . `` There is poison in the real spring down there . '' Beverly pointed toward the diminished fountain we had expected to find . `` I 've worked since noon at this . '' We drank , and life came back to us . We pitched camp , and then listened to Beverly 's story of the sweet and bitter waters of the trail that day . And all the while it seemed as if Bill Banney was just out of sight and might come galloping in at any moment .