noon
The rest , however , were puzzled and waited the explanation . `` I tells this a way , '' continued the guide . `` Ef the buffler had passed by hyur , immediately after the rain , thar tracks wud a sunk deeper , and thar wud a been more mud on the trail . As thar ai n't no great slobber about , ye see , I make my kalklations that the ground must a been well dried afore they kim along , and after such a wet , it could not a been afore noon at the least -- so that 's how I know the buffler passed at that hour . '' We were all interested in this craft of our guides , for without consulting each other they had both arrived at the same conclusion by the same process of mental logic . They had also determined several other points about the buffalo -- such as that they had not all gone together , but in a straggling herd ; that some had passed more rapidly than the rest ; that no hunters were after them ; and that it was probable they were not bound upon any distant migration , but only in search of water ; and the direction they had taken rendered this likely enough . Indeed most of the great buffalo roads lead to watering-places , and they have often been the means of conducting the thirsty traveller to the welcome rivulet or spring , when otherwise he might have perished upon the dry plain .