noon
Burke experienced a thrill of exultation as he looked around him . In the distance , other carriages were crawling like beetles . A couple of shanties , newly built on a near-by ridge , glittered like gold in the sun , and the piles of yellow lumber and the straddle-bugs increased in number as they left the surveyed land and emerged into the finer tract which lay as yet unmapped . At noon they stopped and fed their animals , eating their own food on the ground beside their wagons . While they rested , Bailey kept his eyes on their backward trail , watching for his partner , Rivers . `` It 's about time Jim showed up , '' he said , once again . Burke seemed anxious .