noon
He struck off to the north , riding down a rough , slow-descending road that appeared to have been used occasionally for cattle-driving . As he had ridden in from the west , this northern direction led him into totally unfamiliar country . While he passed on , however , he exercised such keen observation that in the future he would know whatever might be of service to him if he chanced that way again . The rough , wild , brush-covered slope down from the foothills gradually leveled out into plain , a magnificent grazing country , upon which till noon of that day Duane did not see a herd of cattle or a ranch . About that time he made out smoke from the railroad , and after a couple of hours ' riding he entered a town which inquiry discovered to be Bradford . It was the largest town he had visited since Marfa , and he calculated must have a thousand or fifteen hundred inhabitants , not including Mexicans . He decided this would be a good place for him to hold up for a while , being the nearest town to Ord , only forty miles away .