midday
They continued through the town , and when on its northwestern outskirts turned to the right along a trail that paralleled the river . The trail ran north and south , and on either side of it , sometimes shielding a secluded ranch , always forming an agreeable oasis in the flat brown of the country , rose an occasional clump of cottonwoods . The ranch-houses were infrequent , however ; all of them were plentifully supplied with water by giant windmills which clacked and creaked above the trees in the high-noon breeze . To the left , across the river , back from the long , slow rise of sand from the water 's edge , rose five blunt heights like craters long extinct ; while above these , arching across the heavens in spotless sheen , curved the turquoise dome of a southwestern midday sky , flooding the dust and dunes below in throbbing heat-rays . It was God 's own section of earth , and not the least beautiful of its vistas , looming now steadily ahead on their right , was the place belonging to Judge Richards . House and outhouses white , and just now aglint in the white light of the sun , the whole ranch presented the appearance of diamonds nestling in a bed of emerald-green velvet . Turning off at this ranch , the Judge tossed the reins to a waiting Mexican .