noon
Afar off , through dim vistas of the valley , the silver ribbon of the stream wound and twisted among the willows , but the heights , as a rule , were wrapped in the shadows of their own pines . A game of goodly proportion was going on down at the card room , a brace of ranchmen and prospectors , a venturesome `` sub '' and the `` contract doctor '' making up the party , but the general , his household and near neighbors had retired or were retiring for the night . Only the guard and the `` owls '' were `` on deck . '' Army folk in those days and regions had a way of turning out at dawn for the cool of the morning , turning in at taps for the needed six hours ' beauty sleep , lunching lightly at noon , snoozing drowsily an hour or two , then after tub and fresh linen , venturing forth , those who had to , for the afternoon duties . All social enjoyment , as a rule , began when the sun could not see , but had dropped back of the screen of the mountains . But there was still faint stir at the camp of the scouts , out beyond the corrals . Rations had been drawn at tattoo , and a limited portion issued to the lithe , swarthy fellows , squatted in semicircle in front of their chief , patiently awaiting their share , no man of their number opening so much as the end of a package , either of cartridge or cracker , until the last had his dole and all were served .