nearly noon
If he is n't , I 'll leave you there and come back here to find him . I 've got something to tell him that will set YOU all right . '' He smiled grimly , lifted the reins , the mare started forward again , and the vehicle and its occupants disappeared in a vanishing dust cloud . It was nearly noon when Mr. Dawson finished rubbing down his sweating mare in the little stable shed among the wheat . He had left Rose at the hotel , for they found Mr. Mallory had previously started by a circuitous route for the wheat ranch . He had resumed not only his working clothes but his working expression . He was now superintending the unloading of a wain of stores and implements when the light carryall of the Randolphs rolled into the field .