noon
Day found us dismounted in the head of a coulée where we could spy on the Police camp from a distance of three miles , more or less . About sunrise the troop left camp in a body , later spreading fanwise over the prairies . Once a party trotted by within a half-mile of us , but no one of the four men we wanted to see was in the squad . Until after the noon hour we laid _ perdu _ in the hollow , no wiser for our watching . Then I saw a number of riders debouch from the camp , and at once trained the glasses on them . At first I could n't distinguish any particular face among so many shifting forms , but presently they split in two bodies , and these again subdivided ; and in the bunch coming toward us I recognized three men , Lessard , unmistakable in his black uniform , Hicks , and Bevans . I turned the glasses over to MacRae then .