About noon
She hurried only to stop . Driven , pursued , barred , she had no way to escape the flaying thoughts , no time or will to repudiate them . The death of her girlhood , the rending aside of a veil of maiden mystery only vaguely instinctively guessed , the barren , sordid truth of her life as seen by her enlightened eyes , the bitter realization of the vileness of men of her clan in contrast to the manliness and chivalry of an enemy , the hard facts of unalterable repute as created by slander and fostered by low minds , all these were forces in a cataclysm that had suddenly caught her heart and whirled her through changes immense and agonizing , to bring her face to face with reality , to force upon her suspicion and doubt of all she had trusted , to warn her of the dark , impending horror of a tragic bloody feud , and lastly to teach her the supreme truth at once so glorious and so terrible -- that she could not escape the doom of womanhood . About noon that day Ellen Jorth arrived at the Knoll , which was the location of her father 's ranch . Three canyons met there to form a larger one . The knoll was a symmetrical hill situated at the mouth of the three canyons . It was covered with brush and cedars , with here and there lichened rocks showing above the bleached grass .