midday
`` Well , we 'll try one of ours when we stop for dinner , '' said Gunson ; `` but we must do a good morning 's tramp first . '' That good morning 's tramp did not seem to progress much , for the way grew more and more difficult , and it was once taken into consideration whether we had not better strike in away from the river ; and we should have adopted this course but for the fear of losing ourselves in the labyrinth of mountains to the north and east , and not being able to strike the stream again . `` You see , hard as the way is , it is sure , '' said Gunson ; `` and as your goal and mine too are on the upper waters of the river , we had better keep to it . '' It was getting toward midday , and the sun shone forth with such power that we felt the little air there was come down the valley like the breath of an oven , and we should have decided to stop at once , cook our dinner , and rest , but for the fact that there was neither wood nor shade . For we had quite left the patches of forest behind at this point , and were tramping slowly over a bare sterile region of the most forbidding character , low down by the river . Higher up where we could not climb the tall trees again appeared , and every ledge and slope was crowned with dwarf pine , fern , and moss . `` We had better keep on past that bare slope , '' said Gunson .