eight o'clock
The shack stood bleakly revealed to the four winds -- but also it over looked the benchland and the rolling , half-barren land to the west , which comprised Antelope Coulee and Dry Coulee and several other good-for-nothing coulees capable of supporting nothing but coyotes and prairie dogs and gophers . A mile that way Andy rode , and stopped upon the steep side of a gulch which was an arm of Antelope Coulee . He looked down into the gulch , searched with his eyes for the stake that marked the southeast corner of the eighty lying off in this direction from the shack , and finally saw it fifty yards away on a bald patch of adobe . He resisted the temptation to ride over and call upon Miss Allen -- the resistance made easier by the hour , which was eight o'clock or thereabouts -- and rode back to the others very well satisfied with himself and his plan . He found the whole Happy Family gathered upon the level land just over his west line , extolling resentment while they waited his coming . Grinning , he told them his plan , and set them grinning also . He gave them certain work to be done , and watched them scatter to do his bidding .