Five o'clock
Now he might have reached the cottonwood clump beyond Big Ford ... . Perhaps he might jump up a camp outfit with horses . If so , that would cut down the time needed to reach town . Five o'clock by Ridley 's watch ! He made another circuit of his little island , and at the head of it stopped to peer into the lessening darkness . A log , traveling down the river from some point near its headwaters in New Mexico , was drifting toward the island . His attention was arrested by the way it traveled .