about noon
Thurstane was entering in his journal an inventory of the deceased soldier 's effects having already made a minute of the date and cause of his death . These with other facts , such as name , age , physical description , birthplace , time of service , amount of pay due , balance of clothing-account and stoppages , must be more or less repeated on various records , such as the descriptive book of the company , the daily return , the monthly return , the quarterly return , the muster-roll from which the name would be dropped , and the final statements which were to go to the Adjutant-General and the Paymaster-General . Even in the desert the monstrous accountability system of the army lived and burgeoned . Nothing of importance happened until about noon , when the sentinel on the outer wall announced that the Apaches were approaching in force , and Thurstane gave orders to barricade one of the doors of the Casa with some large blocks of adobe , saying to himself , `` I ought to have done it before . '' This work well under way , he hastened to the brow of the hill and reconnoitred the enemy . `` They are not going to attack , '' said Coronado . `` They are going to torture the girl Pepita . ''