noon
The three men started swiftly , but the pistol shot came before they had gone a hundred yards , for one of the three -- a new man and unaccustomed to the use of fire-arms , stumbled over a root while he was seeing that his pistol was in order and let it go off accidentally . `` No time to waste now , '' the Falin called sharply . `` Git on yo ' hosses and git ! '' Then the rush was made and when they gave up the chase at noon that day , the sheriff looked Hale squarely in the eye when Hale sharply asked him a question : `` Why did n't you tell me who that man was ? '' `` Because I was afeerd you would n't go to Devil Judd 's atter him . I know better now , '' and he shook his head , for he did not understand . And so Hale at the head of the disappointed Guard went back to the Gap , and when , next day , they laid Mockaby away in the thinly populated little graveyard that rested in the hollow of the river 's arm , the spirit of law and order in the heart of every guard gave way to the spirit of revenge , and the grass would grow under the feet of none until Rufe Tolliver was caught and the death-debt of the law was paid with death .