noon
All this would tell very sensibly upon the condition of horses that all winter long had been comfortably stabled , regularly groomed and grain-fed , and watered only in pure running streams flushed by springs or melting snow . It was all very well for young Ralph to be coursing about on his fleet , elastic sorrel , radiant with delight as the boy was at being again `` out on the plains '' and in the saddle ; but the cavalry commander 's first care must be to bring his horses to the scene of action in the most effective state of health and soundness . The first few days ' marching , therefore , had to be watched with the utmost care . As the noon hour approached , the doctor noted how the hills off to the west seemed to be growing higher , and that there were broader vistas of wide ranges of barren slopes to the east and north . The colonel was riding some distance ahead of the battalion , his little escort close beside , and Ralph was giving Buford a resting spell , and placidly ambling alongside the doctor . Sergeant Wells was riding somewhere in the column with some chum of old days . He belonged to another regiment , but knew the Fifth of old .