a quarter to twelve
He knew he was riding a much better horse than the one Purvis was on , and still he failed to come up with him . The track on which he rode was clear enough , and his horse knew the way to La Dorada as well as any peon on the place . Peter took out his watch and looked at it in the moonlight . It was not a quarter to twelve , and he was already at the little settlement , close by the river , where some Italians and Spaniards lived . He recognized one of the ill-built small huts as the place where Juan Lara dwelt , and he drew up to ask whether Purvis was ahead of him or not , and whether his boy had started with his mail-bag for the train yet . A Spaniard with a dark face answered his knock , and told him that no one had passed that way to-night , also that his boy had left much earlier in the afternoon with the mail . He suggested that the traveller should come inside and wait until his friend should overtake him ; and as there was plenty of time Peter resolved to rest his horse , and then to push on to La Dorada if Purvis should not turn up .