noon
Whether the explanation is suicide , or a reprehensible tendency on the part of the animal towards practical joking , you are left to decide for yourself . Then , with many rough miles between you and your rest , you abandon the chase . But I speak from personal experience merely . All day long we had tramped through the pitiless rain , stopping only for an hour at noon to eat some dried venison and smoke a pipe beneath the shelter of an overhanging cliff . Soon afterwards Michael knocked over a ryper -LRB- a bird that will hardly take the trouble to hop out of your way -RRB- with his gun-barrel , which incident cheered us a little ; and , later on , our flagging spirits were still further revived by the discovery of apparently very recent deer-tracks . These we followed , forgetful , in our eagerness , of the lengthening distance back to the hut , of the fading daylight , of the gathering mist . The track led us higher and higher , farther and farther into the mountains , until on the shores of a desolate rock-bound vand it abruptly ended , and we stood staring at one another , and the snow began to fall .