noon
I may beat you out in the long run , with the endurance test . If I 've got anything at all , it 's grit . '' `` Yes , you will , '' sneered Giraffe ; but after the third stop he did moderate his speed considerably ; perhaps he was beginning to get a little tired himself , and did not feel unwilling to draw in a peg or two . At noon they ate a cold lunch , for they had come upon certain tracks that told Giraffe there had been an animal of some kind there -- he wished he knew how to tell what species it belonged to , and just how long ago the tracks had been made . `` And mark me , Bumpus , '' he said impressively , `` I 'm going to learn all those kind of things right away , as soon as I can take my mind off this pesky fire puzzle . I c 'n see how handy it is to be able to read signs when you 're off huntin ' . Why , when we start to follerin ' these here tracks , after we 've eaten our grub , how on earth do we know whether they were made a week ago ; or if some cow broke loose from a backwoods home up here , and wandered this way .