An hour before noon
`` Nate , '' said he to Mr. Wilson , `` it looks like you 'd quit breeding goats and rear cattle instead . Honest , if I did n't know your brand , I 'd swear some Mexican raised this bunch . These Fort Worth cowmen are an easy lot , or yours would never have passed under the classification . '' An hour before noon , Tomas Martines , the corporal of Santa Maria , rode up to inquire what time we wished his cattle at the corrals . They were back several miles , and he could deliver them on an hour 's notice . One o'clock was agreed upon , and , never dismounting , the corporal galloped away to his herd . `` Quirk , '' said Nancrede to me , noticing the Mexican 's unaccustomed air of enterprise , `` if we had that fellow under us awhile we 'd make a cow-hand out of him .