noon
Once over the hills back of Firefly Lake , they took to a route that was new to them , leading through a heavy belt of spruce timber and then over a sloping stretch running down to the lowlands . On the way they stirred up some rabbits and Whopper could not resist the temptation to bring one of them low . `` Now I wo n't have to go back empty-handed , even if I do n't see another thing , '' he declared . It was fully noon by the time they reached the edge of the Marshes , wide stretches of lowlands , dotted here and there with clumps of bushes . At a great distance they heard gunshots , but failed to discover the gunners . They tramped on to a point where Jack Dalton had said the wild ducks were apt to be found . The wind was coming up , and out in this wide open plain it cut like a knife .