noon
For another , Saunders never seemed to get any good out of living . He had read everything he could get his hands on -- and though Pete did not say that Saunders chose to die when the stock of paper novels was exhausted , he left that impression upon his auditors . The sheriff and the coroner came at nine . All the Hart boys , including Donny , were there before noon , and the group of Indians remained all day wherever the store cast its shadow . Squaws and bucks passed and repassed upon the footpath between Hartley and their camp , chattering together of the big event until they came under the eye of strange white men , whereupon they were stricken deaf and dumb , as is the way of our nation 's wards . When the sheriff inspected the stable and its vicinity , looking for clews , not a blanket was in sight , though a dozen eyes watched every movement suspiciously . When at the inquest that afternoon , he laid upon the table a battered old revolver of cheap workmanship and long past its prime , and testified that he had found it ten feet from the stable-door , in a due line southeast from the hay-corral , and that one shot had been fired from it , there were Indians in plenty to glance furtively at the weapon and give no sign .