noon
Yet , even in that scrap-heap of Nature there are ways of passing deep into the heart of the upheaval . The Happy Family knew those ways as they knew the most complicated figures of the quadrilles they danced so lightfootedly with the girls of the Bear Paw country . When they forced the sheep and their herders out of the coulee Weary had indicated he sent Irish and Pink ahead to point the way , and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl ; which they did with praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep . When at last , after a slow , heartbreaking climb up a long , bare ridge , Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond , the sun stood high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food ; by which signs they knew that it must be near noon . When the last sheep had passed , blatting discordantly , down the bluff , Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition . `` We do n't aim to deal you any more misery , for a while , if you stay where you 're at . You 're only working for a living , like the rest of us -- but I must say I do n't admire your trade none .