one o'clock
When the noon of night arrived , he had decided upon nothing but to blunder ahead by sheer force of momentum , as if he had been a rolling bowlder instead of a clever , resolute Garcia Coronado . The truth is , that his circumstances were too mighty for him . He had launched them , but he could not steer them as he would , and they were carrying him he knew not whither . At one o'clock he awoke Texas Smith , who was now his sergeant of the guard ; but instead of enjoining some instant atrocity upon him , as he had more than once that night purposed , he merely passed the ordinary instructions of the watch ; then , rolling himself in his blankets , he fell asleep as quickly and calmly as an infant . At daybreak commenced another struggle with the desert . It was still sixty miles to the San Juan , over a series of savage sandstone plateaux , said to be entirely destitute of water . If the animals could not accomplish the distance in two days , it seemed as if the party must perish .