four o'clock
In all this banter the cowmen joined with their own well-flavored wit . These facts have been given to show the natures of these men who made the West ; who carved , unasked , an empire for the profit of us who live now , and who , in a space of less than forty years , practically passed from the face of the earth . Trained by their environment , they finally conquered it and left it to a more-civilized if softer generation . At four o'clock of that afternoon came the first attack . Stelton and his men were under a great disadvantage . In front of the sheepmen 's defense was a little plain some three hundred yards across which was bare of any protection . The canopy of rock that overshadowed the camp prevented attack from above or behind .