noon
`` Now , you see , we 're down here , '' said Tom . `` But there ai n't a pony in this bunch could climb up to the top , even by this path we made comin ' down -- no , sir ! And yet that outlaw done it -- or something . '' They started down the gulch , looking for a good place to camp for the noon meal . Hesitation still led the pack horse , her line being hitched to his saddle-ring . They all kept a bright lookout on either hand for some possible path to the top of the bank by which the outlaw horse might have tried to get out of the gulch . Suddenly Hesitation and his mount and the pack horse disappeared .