noon
The thought that he might effect the passage without hindrance or loss was stretching the improbable in Bud 's mind , and he devoted much time every day to an inspection of his supplies and accouterments . The occasion when nine men with their hands tied behind them arrived at the Bar T ranch , accompanied by six others with Winchesters across their saddle bows , was an extremely happy one for Juliet Bissell . This happiness was not associated , except superficially , with the capture of the rustlers , but had to do especially with the receipt of a certain smeared and blackened journal from a certain tall and generously proportioned young man . The captives arrived at noon , but it was nearly supper-time before she had finished reading , around , amid , among and between the lines , despite the fact that the lines themselves left very little doubt as to the writer 's meaning . This was not the same beautiful girl Bud Larkin had left behind him that early morning of his escape . Since that time she had changed . The eyes that had formerly been but the beautiful abode of allurement and half-spoken promises , had taken on a sweet and patient seriousness .