noon
`` That will be perfectly agreeable , '' said the older cowman . `` No one must take any advantage of you boys . '' The trio rode away , with Dell pointing out around the homestead the different beaver dams in the meanderings of the creek . Joel resumed his mowing , and near noon sighted a cavalcade of horses coming down the dim road which his father used in going to Culbertson . A wagon followed , and from its general outlines the boy recognized it to be a cow outfit , heading for their improvements . Hastening homeward , he found Paul Priest , the gray-haired foreman , who had passed northward nearly two months before , sitting under the sunshade before the tent . `` Howdy , bud , '' said Priest languidly in greeting .