noon
The spokesman of the trail cutters met Flood 's invitation to dinner with excuses about the pressing demands on his time , and urged , if it did not seriously interfere with our plans , that he be allowed to inspect the herd before crossing the river . His reasons seemed trivial and our foreman was not convinced . `` You see , gentlemen , '' he said , `` in handling these southern cattle , we must take advantage of occasions . We have timed our morning 's drive so as to reach the river during the warmest hour of the day , or as near noon as possible . You can hardly imagine what a difference there is , in fording this herd , between a cool , cloudy day and a clear , hot one . You see the herd is strung out nearly a mile in length now , and to hold them up and waste an hour or more for your inspection would seriously disturb our plans . And then our wagon and _ remuda _ have gone on with orders to noon at the first good camp beyond the river .