noon
If too many sleepers show up in the rodeo , though , folks would get mighty suspicious that someone was too handy with his knife . We got a lot of sleepers in the last rodeo , '' he concluded quietly . And Patches , remembering what Little Billy had said about Nick Cambert and Yavapai Joe , and with the talk of the visiting cowboys still fresh in his mind , realized that he was making progress in his education . Riding leisurely , and turning frequently aside for a nearer view of the cattle they sighted here and there , they reached Toohey a little before noon . Here , in a rocky hollow of the hills , a small stream wells from under the granite walls , only to lose itself a few hundred yards away in the sands and gravel of the wash . But , short as its run in the daylight is , the water never fails . And many cattle come from the open range that lies on every side , to drink , and , in summer time , to spend the heat of the day , standing in the cool , wet sands or lying in the shade of the giant sycamores that line the bank opposite the bluff .