noon
Jondo replied . `` We 'll follow the Kiowas a spell , '' he added , after a thoughtful pause . And again they were off . It was nearing noon now , and the trail was fresher every minute . At last the plainsmen climbed a low swell , halting out of sight on the hither side . Then creeping to the crest , they looked down on the Indian camp lying in a little dry valley of a lost stream whose course ran underground beneath them . Lying flat on the ground , each with his head behind a low bush on the top of the swell , the men read the valley with searching eyes .