nearly noon
Will it be a new day to the State , or is it to be the same old round of savagery ? '' Redfield expressed a word of hope , and in that spirit the ranger mounted and rode away back toward the small teepee wherein Wetherford was doing his best to expiate his past -- a past that left him old and friendless at fifty-five . The sheriff and his men took up the work of vengeance which fell to them as officers of the law . It was nearly noon of a glorious day as Cavanagh , very tired and very hungry , rode up to the sheep-herder 's tent . Wetherford was sitting in the sun calmly smoking his pipe , the sheep were feeding not far away , attended by the dog , and an air of peace covered his sunlit rocky world . `` How is the Basque ? '' asked the ranger .