noon
Which being the case let 's see if we ca n't rustle some grub , and then find a nice soft spot whereon to pound our respective ears . '' Billy , deciding that he was too sleepy to work for food , invested half of the capital that was to have furnished the swell feed the night before in what two bits would purchase from a generous housewife on a near-by farm , and then , stretching themselves beneath the shade of a tree sufficiently far from the road that they might not attract unnecessary observation , they slept until after noon . But their precaution failed to serve their purpose entirely . A little before noon two filthy , bearded knights of the road clambered laboriously over the fence and headed directly for the very tree under which Billy and Bridge lay sleeping . In the minds of the two was the same thought that had induced Billy Byrne and the poetic Bridge to seek this same secluded spot . There was in the stiff shuffle of the men something rather familiar . We have seen them before -- just for a few minutes it is true ; but under circumstances that impressed some of their characteristics upon us .