noon
`` Yes , '' answered Mary , `` they look like some beautiful winged bird just about to fly away . And how tall the candles are , lots higher than our tents back in camp . '' It would take too long to tell you about all the desert beauties that the children saw , they all agreed that nothing as beautiful was ever seen `` back East '' where it rains half the time . At noon they sat down under a clump of mesquite and ate the splendid luncheon . The pure fresh air had made them ravenously hungry . The mesquite was a low , stocky tree which did not grow high but spread out in every direction , branches thick with foliage . `` Why do n't the old tree grow up higher and not bother about having so many side branches ? ''