noon
`` Now , listen to this an ' do n't forget it . Twenty miles north from Last Stand Rock is a spring ; ten miles south of that bend in Hell Arroyo is another . If yu gets lost within two days from th ' time yu enters th ' Plain , put yore left hand on a cactus sometime between sun-up an ' noon , move around until yu are over its shadow an ' then ride straight ahead -- that 's south . If you goes loco beyond Last Stand Rock , follow th ' shadows made before noon -- that 's th ' quickest way to th ' Pecos . Yu all knows what to do in a sand-storm , so I wo n't bore you with that . Repeat all I 've told yu , '' he ordered and they complied . `` I 'm tellin ' yu this , '' continued the foreman , indicating the two auxiliaries , `` because yu might get separated from Frenchy .