midnight
He drank more or less in the army -- they all did 's far as that goes -- but he kept it up in a desultory way after he came here , as a sort of accessory to his main business of life , which was being a good fellow . `` And he was a good fellow -- an awful good fellow . We were all young then ; there was n't an old man on the town-site as I remember it . We use to load up the whole bunch and go hunting -- closing up the stores and taking the girls along -- and did not show up till midnight . Samp would always have a little something to take under his buggy-seat , and we would wet up and sing coming home , with the beds of the spring-wagons so full of prairie chickens and quail that they jolted out at every rut . Samp would always lead the singing -- being just a mite more lubricated than the rest of us , and the girls thought he was all hunkey dorey -- as they used to say . -LSB- Illustration : `` He made a lot of money and blew it in '' -RSB- `` He made a lot of money and blew it in at Jim Thomas 's saloon , buying drinks , playing stud poker , betting on quarter horses , and lending it out to fellows who helped him forget they 'd borrowed it .