midnight
`` It might be as you wish if you had twenty-five or fifty men ; but with less than a dozen , and more than twice that number looking for you , discretion is the better part of valor . '' `` Tell me , Hawkridge , how all this interesting information came to you , '' continued Capt. Asbury . `` My ranch is not far to the northward , my cattle are ranging among the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains , and all my hands are with them . I sat up late last night , going over my accounts and trying to get them into shape , and it was past midnight when two rustlers rode up . I supposed they meant to stay all night and invited them in . I have never had any trouble with them , and they had two purposes in calling . One was to give me a little advice , and the other to secure information . ''