noon
`` We will be very glad to help you , if we can , '' answered Iola , a bit shortly , for she did not like the looks of the big man with the broken nose . `` What is it you would like to know ? '' `` Wal , '' answered the man , glancing toward his companion , `` me an ' my pardner was tew meet a man over yonder by that big rock that sticks itself out of th ' ground , like a nose on a man 's face , '' and he pointed to a huge rock a mile or more away that shot up out of the level of the valley , not unlike the nose on a man 's face . `` He was tew git thar ` bout noon yisterday ; an ' we have n't seen hide nor ha ' r of him yit ; an ' , gittin ' powerful tired of waitin ' an ' thinkin ' you ladies might have seen him , we stops you tew ask . '' `` An ' bein ' a leetle afeared he might have come tew harm , '' the other horseman , a small man with a pock-marked face , here broke in , `` seein ' that he was a comin ' from th ' diggin 's an ' was supposed tew have considerable gold-dust with him , we makes bold tew stop you ladies tew ask about him , jest as my pardner says , thinkin ' you might have seen him . '' `` What -- what did he look like ? '' Iola asked anxiously , the moment the man paused ; for her thoughts had gone instantly to the dead man they had buried last night , when he had spoken of the man they were looking for as being on his way back from the diggings .