noon
In the big corral a sorrel mare nosed her colt and nibbled abstractedly at the pile of hay in one corner , while the colt wabbled aimlessly up and sniffed curiously and then turned to inspect the rails that felt so queer and hard when he rubbed his nose against them . The sun was warm , and cloud-shadows drifted lazily across the coulee with the breeze that blew from the west . You never would dream that this was the last day , -- the last few hours even , -- when the Lazy A would be the untroubled home of three persons of whose lives it formed so great a part . At noon the hens were hovering their chickens in the shade of the mower which Lite was overhauling during his spare time , getting it ready for the hay that was growing apace out there in the broad mouth of the coulee . The rooster was wallowing luxuriously in a dusty spot in the corral . The young colt lay stretched out on the fat of its side in the sun , sound asleep . The sorrel mare lay beside it , asleep also , with her head thrown up against her shoulder .