midday
They are only stayed in their pace by the necessity of keeping a straight course -- not so easy upon a treeless plain , when the sun is not visible in the sky . Unluckily for them , the day is cloudy , which renders it more difficult . Still , with the twin buttes behind -- so long as these are in sight they keep their course with certainty ; then , as their summits sink below the level of the plain , another landmark looms up ahead , well known by Walt Wilder and Hamersley . It is the black-jack grove where , two days before , they made their midday meal . The Rangers ride towards it , with the intention also to make a short halt there and snatch a scrap from their haversacks . When upon its edge , before entering among the trees , they see that which decides them to stay even less time than intended -- the hoof-prints of half a hundred horses ! Going inside the copse , they observe other signs that speak of an encampment .