noon
They were under the especial care of the judge himself , however , and Na-tee-kah derived a vast amount of comfort from an occasional look at his very fatherly and benevolent face . Her obvious respect for Yellow Pine was mingled with something like fear as yet , and she would not have a word to say to any of the miners . Horses were furnished to both of them when the camp broke up for the day 's travelling , and no man in the party was more at home upon one , except that a side-saddle was an invention that they had never heard of and did not need . `` We 'll git to the mine afore night , jedge , '' said Yellow Pine , when they halted for their noon luncheon , and the further information he added stimulated all hands to push forward . Not one sign of peril or even of human presence , other than their own , did they encounter , and yet the other human beings of that region were hourly drawing nearer . The camp of the Apache marauders broke up at sunrise , with a considerable amount of discontented grumbling . A man familiar with their dialect , or with only a little of it , could easily have gathered that they were eager for news which did not come , and for scouts who did not return .