about three o'clock
The sun was very hot ; but the air was curiously streaked with coolness and with a fierce dry heat as though from an opened furnace door . All the grass was brown and crisp . Darker and more abrupt mountains showed themselves in the distance , with an occasional peak of white and glittering snow . Until about three o'clock we journeyed through a complete solitude . Then we came upon some men digging in a dry wash . They had piled up a great heap of dirt from a hole . We stopped and talked to them ; and discovered that they were working what they called `` dry diggings . ''