noon
But the night passed without incident . An hour or two after the herd had started the next morning , four well mounted , strange men rode up from the westward , and representing themselves as trail cutters , asked for our foreman . Flood met them , in his usual quiet manner , and after admitting that we had been troubled more or less with range cattle , assured our callers that if there was anything in the herd in the brands they represented , he would gladly hold it up and give them every opportunity to cut their cattle out . As he was anxious to cross the river before noon , he invited the visitors to stay for dinner , assuring them that before starting the herd in the afternoon , he would throw the cattle together for their inspection . Flood made himself very agreeable , inquiring into cattle and range matters in general as well as the stage of water in the river ahead . 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 .