About noon
`` Kit , that was n't no human bein ' . It wuz ther devil as sure as shootin ' . I started to draw my gun , but shucks , I ai n't got no chanct ter make a move before thar was a crash , an ' a blaze o ' flame come from his chest , right about the middle , an ' I felt the ball strike me , I heard a queer sorter laugh , like a man bubblin ' with his mouth in a basin o ' water , an ' then I went out , an ' all I remember wuz fallin ' out o ' the saddle . '' About noon of that day , Ted and Stella rode over from the ranch house on a tour of inspection , and stopped at Bud 's camp , where they were told the story of Carl 's strange encounter with the man without a face , to which he listened in troubled silence . When Carl was through with his story , Ted looked for a long time into the fire without saying anything . `` Well , what do you think ? '' asked Stella , at last .