noon
No solitary watercourse with margin of cottonwoods or willow thickets flowed here to stripe the dingy , yellow world with interrupting green , nor were cattle to be seen dotting the distance , nor moving objects at all , nor any bird in the soundless air . The last gate was shut by the Virginian , who looked back at the pleasant trees of the ranch , and then followed on in single file across the alkali of No Man 's Land . No cloud was in the sky . The desert 's grim noon shone sombrely on flat and hill . The sagebrush was dull like zinc . Thick heat rose near at hand from the caked alkali , and pale heat shrouded the distant peaks . There were five horses .