noon before
But now , in the more open country and the growing light , this would not be possible . The Indians quickened their pace . In the day-light , Dusty Star recognised them as belonging to the same tribe as those who had followed him and Kiopo a few days earlier ; Yellow Dogs every man of them , under the leadership of Double Runner . It was near noon before they reached the head of a long lake . Dusty Star could see the water glimmering far away to the south over the tops of the red Indian willows . Without pausing for an instant , the Indians pushed their way through the thicket , their moccasins sinking deeply in the spongy ground between the willow roots . Then they pulled out a slender canoe of birch-bark concealed among the reeds .