midnight
He jerked himself upright and expelled his breath in an angry snort . This was no time for such musings . At Sheeps Bar , ten miles farther on , he was to meet Knapp and plan for the holdup of the stage that tomorrow night would carry treasure to the Cimarroon Mine at North Fork . It was after midnight when the few faint lights of Sheeps Bar came into view . The place was small , a main street flanked by frame houses , a wooden arcade jutting over the sagging sidewalk . Sleep held it ; blank windowpanes looked over the arcade 's roof , the one bright spot the oblong of light that shone from the transom over the door of the Planters Hotel . Mindful of dogs he kept to the soft earth near the sidewalk , shooting glances left and right .