midday
He failed to pick up Bill 's trail . It did not matter . His hunger was driving him too compellingly -- only -- only he wondered if Bill , too , were lost . By midday the irk of his pack became too oppressive . Again he divided the gold , this time merely spilling half of it on the ground . In the afternoon he threw the rest of it away , there remaining to him only the half-blanket , the tin bucket , and the rifle . An hallucination began to trouble him .