about noon
The slow movement of the grazing herds allowed a great amount of freedom to the boys and was taken advantage of at every opportunity . It seems that on approaching Beaver Creek , Owen Ubery and Runt Pickett had ridden across to it for the purpose of trout-fishing . They were gone all day , having struck the creek some ten or twelve miles west of the cattle , expecting to fish down it and overtake the herds during the evening . But about noon they discovered where a wagon had been burned , years before , and near by were five human skeletons , evidently a family . It was possibly the work of Indians , or a blizzard , and to prove the discovery , Pickett had brought in one of the skulls and proposed taking it home with him as a memento of the drive . Parent objected to having the reminder in the wagon , and a row resulted between them , till Splann interfered and threw the gruesome relic away . The next morning a dozen of us from the three herds rode into the post .