noon
Consoled with this reflection , Zeb kept steadily upon his way , seemingly as happy as a person could be when laboring under a slight provocation . No further words passed between him and Leland for a considerable time . The latter was busy with his own thoughts , and began to feel the fatigues of their long-continued journey . They had set out at an early hour , and had halted only at noon . The traveling was very difficult at times , often leading through tangled underwood and swamps , where a person 's weight bore him deep into the mire ; and now and then some sluggish , poisonous serpent crawled from beneath their feet , or hissed at them from some decayed tree . About the middle of the afternoon they paused upon the banks of a stream of considerable size , which was a tributary to the Big Sandy . Though broad , it was not deep , and could be easily forded .