noon
Something black , bitter , melancholy , and morbid , always unreal to him , had passed away forever . The great moment had been forced upon him . He did not believe Roy Beeman 's preposterous hint regarding Helen ; but he had gone back or soared onward , as if by magic , to his old true self . Mounted on Dale 's strongest horses , with only a light pack , an ax , and their weapons , the two men had reached the snow-line on the pass by noon that day . Tom , the tame cougar , trotted along in the rear . The crust of the snow , now half thawed by the sun , would not hold the weight of a horse , though it upheld the men on foot . They walked , leading the horses .