about three in the afternoon
It was agreed that I was to hold down our claim against the remote possibility of its being jumped by some wandering prospector . On March 3 , 1866 , Powell and I packed his provisions on two of our burros , and bidding me good-bye he mounted his horse , and started down the mountainside toward the valley , across which led the first stage of his journey . The morning of Powell 's departure was , like nearly all Arizona mornings , clear and beautiful ; I could see him and his little pack animals picking their way down the mountainside toward the valley , and all during the morning I would catch occasional glimpses of them as they topped a hog back or came out upon a level plateau . My last sight of Powell was about three in the afternoon as he entered the shadows of the range on the opposite side of the valley . Some half hour later I happened to glance casually across the valley and was much surprised to note three little dots in about the same place I had last seen my friend and his two pack animals . I am not given to needless worrying , but the more I tried to convince myself that all was well with Powell , and that the dots I had seen on his trail were antelope or wild horses , the less I was able to assure myself . Since we had entered the territory we had not seen a hostile Indian , and we had , therefore , become careless in the extreme , and were wont to ridicule the stories we had heard of the great numbers of these vicious marauders that were supposed to haunt the trails , taking their toll in lives and torture of every white party which fell into their merciless clutches .