noon
He is reading the lines about the distinguished arrivals . Fortunately at the instant there is a blast from the bugles -- `` Fall in ! '' -- and the men rush to their horses . In twenty minutes the company is clattering out on the Mechanicsville road , and at noon , when the squadron halted for dinner , the company cook had to rely on the clumsy ministrations of his colored aides . `` Towhead '' had disappeared . Olympia , after a night of anguish , began the new day with a heavy burden on her mind . Mrs. Sprague was delirious .