noon
`` Well , it 's no use for me to stand here tryin ' to figure out whether they 've given me this money or really mean to buy the rifle , for I 've got to strike Antelope Spring between this time an ' midnight . Now that there are ten dollars in my pocket , I 'll be a pretty poor stick if I do n't do it ; but the sand-storm came mighty near windin ' me up . It was the toughest thing I ever saw . '' Then Dick set forward once more , toiling over the loose surface into which his feet sank three or four inches at every step ; and when he finally stood on the firm soil east of this waste of shifting sand , it was two hours past noon . As he had reckoned , there were more than thirty miles yet to be traversed ; but the distance troubled him little . He had in his possession that which would buy such knowledge and such drugs as his father might need , and he believed it would be almost a sin to rebel even in his thoughts against the labor which must be performed . Now he advanced , whistling cheerily , with a long stride and a swinging gait that should have carried him over the trail at the rate of four miles an hour ; and not until late in the afternoon did he permit himself to halt , and partake of the broiled venison .