ten o'clock
What his thoughts were could only be conjectured , but little Sanders seemed to hit pretty near the mark when he confided to Hastings that Differs did n't seem to care a damn whether Warren followed the Indian trail or not ; what he was afraid of was that the major would `` get onto '' his own . And indeed as the morning wore on it began to look as though that were what the major was bent on doing . The scouting-parties had come back with their report of what they had found in the river bottom , and by this time Warren with his escort was three miles over to the west and slowly searching along the east face of the spur , peeping into every hollow and depression that might shelter a human form and looking everywhere for the print of horses ' hoofs . At ten o'clock he had sent to Devers for some intelligent non-commissioned officer who could point out about where they had last seen Davies as he crossed the ridge returning to his men at sundown , but Devers very plausibly responded that while it might not be difficult to do so from where they parted , `` just over on the west side , '' it could n't be reliably done from so far to the east . The reply must at least serve to delay matters awhile , and every moment was of value to Devers . His own theory was that , as twilight was setting in as Davies recrossed the ridge , everything beyond in the low grounds was in deep obscurity . The attack had probably begun about the time the young officer , with Murray , first crossed the ridge in obedience to the captain 's orders to report to him in person .