nearly noon
`` Well , you 'll know it after this , '' said Jed Sanborn , with a quiet smile . `` Ca n't learn everything in a day , ye know . The woods is like book larnin ' -- ye have got to learn a page at a time . '' They walked along until nearly noon and then came to something of a clearing . Here all took a sharp gaze around and at last saw two deer far over to the eastward . `` We can walk straight for 'em , '' said the old hunter . `` The wind is blowing our way . ''