one o'clock in the morning
before
It had not been difficult to enlist Carson 's sympathies . A sincere friendship had sprung up between the boyish preacher and himself and their total dissimilarity had made them congenial . Carson was amused in his quiet way to note how exactly Belle was moving as he thought best and surest , so now he merely added : `` Deadwood it is , '' and with a farewell word to the Bylows they were off . The Memorable Trip to Deadwood It was a long , hard journey , and it was one o'clock in the morning before they reached Deadwood . Every public house that could get a license to sell liquor announced itself as a `` hotel . '' Those few that could not , made a virtue of their failure and flaunted a sign , `` Temperance House . '' The `` wet houses '' were on the main gulch , the `` dry '' ones in off nooks , or perched on breezy hills .