midnight
Haley could not be on the mountain before noon . But he had left that behind in the little log stable from which his team came that cried haste to his going . Gord Bosang from whom he was to buy the horses was a man somewhat of Blatch 's own ilk . Cavalierly called out of bed after midnight and offered only a partial cash payment -- all that Blatch had been able to raise -- he had angrily refused to let the team be taken off the place . Turrentine 's situation was desperate . He must have the horses . In the quarrel that followed , he struck to clear this obstacle from his path ; but whether he had left a dead man lying back there on the hay -- whether it was a possible charge of murder he was now fleeing from -- he had not stopped to find out .