noon
At the shearing-shed , Alessandro found his men in confusion and ill-humor . The shearing had been over and done by ten in the morning , and why were they not on their way to the Ortega 's ? Waiting all day , -- it was now near sunset , -- with nothing to do , and still worse with not much of anything to eat , had made them all cross ; and no wonder . The economical Juan Can , finding that the work would be done by ten , and supposing they would be off before noon , had ordered only two sheep killed for them the day before , and the mutton was all gone , and old Marda , getting her cue from Juan , had cooked no more frijoles than the family needed themselves ; so the poor shearers had indeed had a sorry day of it , in no wise alleviated either by the reports brought from time to time that their captain was lying on the ground , face down , under Senor Felipe 's window , and must not be spoken to . It was not a propitious moment for Alessandro to make the announcement of his purpose to leave the band ; but he made a clean breast of it in few words , and diplomatically diverted all resentment from himself by setting them immediately to voting for a new captain to take his place for the remainder of the season . `` Very well ! '' they said hotly ; `` captain for this year , captain for next , too ! ''