noon
They worked their separate ways back toward the bed ground , gathering strays along the way . The camp tender held them in the open while the two herders and the dogs combed the surrounding hills for stragglers ; and as they worked they cursed the coyote and his ways . It was no unusual thing in their experience for a few coyotes to fly at a bunch of sheep and scatter them , cutting out a few that straggled away from the protection of men and dogs , but this savage attack in pack formation and the harrying of five thousand head of sheep far through the hills was new to them . All through the morning they rounded stragglers toward the flock and shortly after noon they headed the tired sheep down toward the foothills , fearing a repetition of the stampede . Just at dusk they milled the sheep and bedded them on a ridge in the low country , a mile from the base of the timbered hills . The camp tender looked them over with practiced eye and shook his head . `` There 's no chance to make a count now , '' he said .