noon
They were a fine sight , a stag and doe each of splendid size , and they moved fearlessly about among the trees . Henry admired them and he had no desire whatever to harm them . Instead , they were now friends of his , telling him by their presence that the savages were absent . Henry judged that they were now about two-thirds of the way to Chillicothe , and , shortly before noon , he and Tom awakened the others and resumed their journey , but in the brilliant light of the afternoon they advanced much more slowly . Theirs was a mission of great importance and discovery alone would ruin it . They kept to the thicket , and the stony places where they would leave no trail , and once , when a brook flowed in their direction , they waded in its watery bed for two or three miles . But the intensity of their purpose and the concentration of their faculties upon it did not keep them from noticing the magnificence of the country .