about three
o'clock
`` I saw Aleck ride into the ranch as I was coming home , '' he said . As he spoke , his face lightened as with a weight lifted from his mind . Later , when the coroner questioned him about his movements and the movements of Aleck , Lite repeated the lie as casually as possible . It might have carried more weight with the jury if Aleck Douglas himself had not testified , just before then , that he had returned about three o'clock to the ranch and pottered around the corral with the mare and colt , and unsaddled his horse before going into the house at all . It was only when he had discovered Johnny Croft 's horse at the haystack , he said , that he began to wonder where the rider could be . He had gone to the house -- and found him on the kitchen floor . Lite had not heard this statement , for the simple reason that , being a closely interested person , he had been invited to remain outside while Aleck Douglas testified .