About three o'clock
The breed I did n't take much notice of at the time , except that when he spoke , which was seldom , he was given to using better language than lots of white men I have known . At a point where the trail seemed to bear north a few degrees , Goodell angled away from the beaten track and headed straight across country for Pend d' Oreille . At noon we camped , and cooked a bite of dinner while the horses grazed ; ate it , and went on again . About three o'clock , as nearly as I could tell , we dipped into a wooded creek bottom some two hundred yards in width . The creek itself went brawling along in a deep-worn channel , and when my horse got knee deep in the water he promptly stopped and plunged his muzzle into the stream . I gave him slack rein , and let him drink his fill . The others kept on , climbed the short , steep bank , and passed from sight over its rim .