about one o'clock
While Bob and his men were staking out their horses they were besieged by anxious Brindles who wanted to know just where they had been and what they had done during their absence . No incident connected with the experience of their successful comrades was deemed too trivial for their notice . Bob and the rest answered their questions as fast as they were able , and asked a good many in return . They learned that Captain Clinton had fallen in with the stolen cattle about one o'clock that morning , but the Indians they had hoped to find with them were not to be seen . The captain had pursued them so closely that they did not have time to drive the stock into the Staked Plains , to die there of thirst , and neither did they harass the column , as George said they would . Their force was too small to accomplish anything by it . The captain had spent all the forenoon in gathering up the stock , and it was now feeding on the prairie close by , guarded by a large squad of troopers .