noon
`` We 'll have to let the bottle-breaker wait for a spell , until we size up this rustler question . We may have to get up a sheriff 's posse and clean out the rascals . '' `` If we can find 'em , '' grimly added Dick . It was some distance to the place where Yellin ' Kid and Snake Purdee had seen evidences of the raid , and it was long past noon when the boys reached it . They had stopped for `` grub '' on the way , having carried with them some food . Water they could get from one of the several concrete troughs that had been installed , the fluid coming through pipes from the reservoir . `` Here 's where they killed the steer , or yearling , '' Bud said , pointing to a heap of bones .