four o'clock
`` I 'm goin ' to town for a pair of gold-scales , but I 'll be back by supper , then we 'll clean up between shifts . She 'd ought to give us a thousand ounces , the way that ground prospects . '' He loped down the gulch , while his partner returned to the pit , the flashing shovel blades , and the rumbling undertone of the big workings that so fascinated him . It was perhaps four o'clock when he was aroused from his labors by a shout from the bunk-tent , where a group of horsemen had clustered . As Glenister drew near , he saw among them Wilton Struve , the lawyer , and the big , well-dressed tenderfoot of the Northern -- McNamara -- the man of the heavy hand . Struve straightway engaged him . `` Say , Glenister , we 've come out to see about the title to this claim . ''