noon
He traveled very swiftly , at a long , noiseless lope ; and when he wished to rest he climbed into a tree for security . Several times during the day he had had a sensation of being followed ; and , turning quickly , he had run back , in the hope of detecting his pursuer . But when he found no one , he concluded that it was merely one of the ghosts the tribe so feared , but whom he himself rather held in contempt as futile . Long before noon he had forsaken the brook , because its course had ceased to lead him westward . In the afternoon he reached a river which marked the limit of his former explorations . It was a wide , swift water , but too shallow and turbulent for swimming , and he forded it with some difficulty . Once across , he went with more caution , oppressed with a sense of strangeness , although the landscape as yet was in no way greatly changed .