five o'clock
There , silent and regretful , stood the post commander , counting in surprise the score of scarecrow forms now plainly visible , sitting , standing , or squatting along the _ mesa _ edge . Northernmost in view , nearly opposite Blakely 's quarters , were two , detached from the general assembly , yet clinging close together -- two slender figures , gowned , and it was at these the agent Daly was staring , as he , too , came running to the spot . `` Major Plume , '' cried he , panting , `` I want those girls arrested , at once ! '' At five o'clock of this cloudless October morning Colonel Montgomery Byrne , `` of the old Army , sir , '' was reviling the fates that had set him the task of unraveling such a skein as he found at Sandy . At six he was blessing the stars that sent him . Awakened , much before his usual hour , by half-heard murmur of scurry and excitement , so quickly suppressed he believed it all a dream , he was thinking , half drowsily , all painfully , of the duty devolving on him for the day , and wishing himself well out of it , when the dream became real , the impression vivid . His watch told him reveille should now be sounding .