midday
Jacket shrugged , then turned away . Jacket was a likable youngster ; his devotion was thoroughly unselfish ; it had not been easy to wound him . With keener regrets than he cared to acknowledge O'Reilly set out upon his journey , following the guide whom General Betancourt had provided . It was a lovely morning , sufficiently warm to promise a hot midday ; the air was moist and fresh from a recent shower . This being the rainy season , the trails were soft , and where the rich red Cuban soil was exposed the travelers sank into it as into wet putty . Crossing a rocky ridge , O'Reilly and his guide at last emerged upon an open slope , knee-high in grass and grown up to bottle-palms , those queer , distorted trees whose trunks are swollen into the likeness of earthen water-jars . Scattered here and there over the meadows were the dead or fallen trunks of another variety , the cabbage-palm , the green heart of which had long formed a staple article of diet for the Insurrectos .