midnight
Although we were all dead for sleep , extra caution was taken to prevent a surprise , either Goodnight or Loving remaining on guard over the outfit , seeing that the men kept awake on herd and that the guards changed promptly . Charlie Goodnight owned a horse that he contended could scent an Indian five hundred yards , and I have never questioned the statement . He had used him in the Ranger service . The horse by various means would show his uneasiness in the immediate presence of Indians , and once the following summer we moved camp at midnight on account of the warnings of that same horse . We had only a remuda with us at the time , but another outfit encamped with us refused to go , and they lost half their horses from an Indian surprise the next morning and never recovered them . I remember the ridicule which was expressed at our moving camp on the warnings of a horse . `` Injun-bit , '' `` Man-afraid-of-his-horses , '' were some of the terms applied to us , -- yet the practical plainsman knew enough to take warning from his dumb beast .