noon
`` Do n't knock me -- you ca n't get ahead of me in that respect ! I 've kicked myself all over Cody to-day . '' The following morning , at Meeteetse , he joined Bill Travers and the Miners ' Camp stage and started on the all day 's journey into the mountains . At noon , he began looking for the sheriff and Leslie . He had calculated that they would meet the stage at the half-way ranch and there he would tell Leslie what he had written his father . But no Leslie appeared . All the afternoon during the stage 's progress into the mountains , Ross looked for the sheriff and his prisoner , but he looked in vain .