About two in the afternoon
He was energetic , indefatigable , courageous , cheerful . All day he was hurrying the cavalcade , and yet watching its ability to endure . His `` Forward , forward , '' alternated with his `` Carefully , carefully . '' Now '' _ Adelante _ '' and now '' _ Con juicio _ '' About two in the afternoon they reached a little nook of sparse grass , which the beasts gnawed perfectly bare in half an hour . No water ; the horses were uselessly jaded in searching for it ; beds of trap and gullies of ancient rivers were explored in vain ; the horrible rocky wilderness was as dry as a bone . Meanwhile , the fatigue of scrambling and stumbling thus far had been enormous . It had been necessary to ascend plateau after plateau by sinuous and crumbling ledges , which at a distance looked impracticable to goats .