eight o'clock
I 'll bet anything that was Checkers , '' grumbled Ted . `` I 'm always too late to get to him . But next time I 'll take a long chance with him . '' The train pulled into Green River at eight o'clock that night , and they all went to the leading hotel , and Ted registered them as coming from the ranch . During the evening the boys mingled with the crowd in the hotel lobby , talking cattle , and met many of the representative women of the section . They were out after a bunch of stockers , and promised to be in the neighborhood for several days and to visit the ranches and look over the stock . One of the men whom they met was introduced to them as Colonel Billings , ranch owner and speculator in cattle .