About noon
These worked unceasingly , riding the snowy prairie , picking up the ponies which the Indians had not been able to round into a bunch to drive to their rendezvous in the mountains . The attack upon them had been so sudden that they had taken no heed of where they were going . It was every man for himself , with the broncho boys ' bullets for the hindmost . About noon Ted and the boys from the sign camps rode up to the ranch house , driving before them a band of about twenty ponies which they had found grazing on the prairie or seeking the shelter of the coulees . Not a sign of the marauding Indians had they seen . `` Boys , as soon as we can get something to eat we 're going after those Indians , '' said Ted , dismounting and going into the house . `` We 've got mounts for nearly all of us , now .