seven o'clock
It was in San Benito County , California , or , to be more explicit , in the Hernandez Valley , the nearest station to which is King City , `` up country '' from Los Angeles . My friend , Tom Bain , owned a cattle-ranche up there , right in the valley which lies between the hills forming the coastal range of California . It is high up , this beautiful valley . I arrived at King City over-night , and my old school pal , who had asked me to pay him a visit , met me at the Central Saloon early next morning -- so early , that we had breakfasted and were off in a pair-horse buckboard by seven o'clock . And then we had a fourteen hours ' drive , climbing , ever climbing , with a dip here and there as we negotiated the irregularities of the high country , the air becoming cooler and crisper every hour , and so clear that you could see for miles over the plains beneath . It is rather wonderful , this clearness of the atmosphere in Western America . In Arizona , I believe , the phenomenon is even more noticeable , at times .