Noon
`` Let 's spread out in a fan , colonel ; '' and this was done , each man examining his part of the great semicircle with extreme care . A short while after , the trail was again struck , and they swept on . But at both this place and at the ford valuable time had been lost . Noon found the Comanches still out of sight and hearing . But the trail was fresh and easily seen , and it seemed only a question of endurance upon one side or the other . `` If it was n't for the jaded hosses , '' sighed Poke Stover . His own steed was fairly fresh , but it would have been foolhardy for him to have gone on ahead of the main body , with perhaps only one or two others being able to do likewise .