noon
Among their supplies they also carried a complete telegraph equipment . After they were finally located in a definite camp it was intended to have one or more stations , and both send and receive messages from time to time . Thus , in these and many more genuinely interesting as well as instructive ways , they expected to make their tour a most profitable one . Some of the boys became quite sober as they saw the grand view of the plateau and valley blotted out after leaving the noon camp . They brightened up after a while , however , since there were dozens of things to draw their attention , and arouse their boyish interest . Dobbin had all he could do to pull the wagon over the rough road , so full of stones , and so overgrown had it become . Still , Paul noticed as he went along , that those marks of the wheels , and the prints of a horse 's hoofs showed , telling that the vehicle occupied by the stranger , whom Joe Clausin seemed to have recognized , must have kept on this way .