About nine o'clock
Just inside the main building which , in more prosperous times on El Palomar , had been used for storing hay , the touring car stood . Conway fumbled along the instrument board and discovered the switch key still in the lock , so he turned on the headlights and discovered the limousine thirty feet away in the rear of the barn . Ten minutes later , with the spark plugs from both cars carefully secreted under a pile of split stove wood in the yard , he departed as silently as he had come . About nine o'clock Don Mike left the Mission and walked home . On the hills to the north he caught the glare of a camp-fire against the silvery sky ; wherefore he knew that Don Nicolás Sandoval and his deputies were guarding the Loustalot sheep . At ten o'clock he entered the patio . In a wicker chaise-longue John Parker lounged on the porch outside his room ; Farrel caught the scent of his cigar on the warm , semi-tropical night , saw the red end of it gleaming like a demon 's eye .