twenty-seven
minutes past three
Women hurriedly put up lunches and packed saddlebags with supplies . In an incredibly short time a company of fifty riders had gathered in front of the Bird Cage . With the Ranger at their head , they went out of town at a fast trot . If there had been anybody there to notice it , he would have seen that the clock on the wall at the Bird Cage registered the time as twenty-seven minutes past three . When Ridley heard the faint _ plop _ of the Ranger 's body as it dropped into the water , his heart died under the fifth rib . He was alone -- alone with a wounded man in his care , and five hundred fiends ravenous for his blood . For a moment the temptation was strong in him to follow Roberts into the water .