noon
Personally , I thought those two old plainsmen would n't thank Major Lessard or any one else for disturbing their last , long sleep ; the wide , unpeopled prairies had always been their choice in life , and I felt that they would rather be laid away in some quiet coulée , than in any conventional `` city of the dead '' with prim headstones and iron fences to shut them in . A Western man likes lots of room ; dead or alive , it irks him to be crowded . I fully expected to find the four waiting for me at Pend d' Oreille , and I was prepared to hear a good deal of chaffing about getting lost . What of my waiting on the ridge that afternoon , and bearing more or less away from the proper direction at night , I did not reach the post till noon ; and I was a bit puzzled to find only the men who were on duty there . I was digesting this along with the remains of the troopers ' dinner , when Goodell and his satellites popped over the hill that looked down on Pend d' Oreille , and , a few minutes later , came riding nonchalantly up to the mess-house . `` Well , you beat us in , '' Goodell greeted airily . `` Did you find a short cut ? ''