12:36
Then sounded an `` All ready ! '' from cowboy Buck , first in motion , a straining of leather , a swish of quirts , a grunting of ponies as the spurs dug into their flanks , a rush of leaping feet , a wild medley of yells , and westward across the prairie , beneath the stars , there passed a swiftly moving black shadow that grew momentarily lighter , and back from which came a patter , patter , patter , that grew softer and softer ; until at last over the old saloon and its companion store fell silence absolute . It was 10:28 when they left Kennedy 's place . It was 12:36 when , without having for a moment stopped their long swinging gallop , they pulled up at the `` Lone Buffalo '' ranch , twenty-five miles away , and the last ranch before they reached the river . The house was dark and silent as the grave at their approach ; but it did not remain so long . The display of fireworks with which they illumined the night would have done credit to an Independence Day celebration . The yells which accompanied it were hair-raising as the shrieks from a band of maniacs .