midnight
No sooner had the Kentucky lad taken a single good look than he called out : `` Who but old Hank Coombs , the veteran cow puncher of the Southwest ! I suppose your father has sent him on an errand , Frank . '' `` Just as likely as not , because he trusts old Hank more than any man on the entire ranch . You can see he 's headed in a line that will fetch up at the Circle Ranch by midnight , if he keeps galloping on . Look there , he sees us , and is waving his arm . Yes , he 's changed his course so as to meet us , Bob . '' `` But if we needed the glass to find out who he was , how does it come that an old man like Hank could tell that we were friends , at such a distance ? ''