about four o'clock
in the afternoon
At midnight they stopped at the crossing of a stream to water and feed , and Abe showed his companion how to make a nosebag out of the sack in which his grain was carried . Daybreak found them in the foothills . At the ranch where Abe had been accommodated the morning before they again halted for breakfast . With another feed for the horses tied behind their saddles , they began the long climb of the western slope of the mountains and about four o'clock in the afternoon had crossed over the summit and reached the spring at the head of Devil 's Canyon -- the last water they would find until they reached Wolf Wells in the desert . When they dismounted at the watering place some two hundred yards off the trail , the surveyor , after slipping the bit from his horse 's mouth and loosening the saddle girth , moved slowly about the little glen , his eyes on the ground . Holmes , standing by the horses which had their muzzles deep in the cool water , watched his companion wearily . `` Lost something ? ''