about midnight
The herd was beginning to show the want of water by evening , but amongst our saddle horses the lack of water was more noticeable , as a horse subsisting on grass alone weakens easily ; and riding them made them all the more gaunt . When we caught up our mounts that evening , we had used eight horses to the man since we had left the South Fork , and another one would be required at midnight , or whenever we halted . We made our drive the second night with more confidence than the one before , but there were times when the train of cattle must have been nearly two miles in length , yet there was never a halt as long as the man with the lead light could see the one in the rear . We bedded the herd about midnight ; and at the first break of day , the fourth guard with the foreman joined us on our watch and we started the cattle again . There was a light dew the second night , and the cattle , hungered by their night walk , went to grazing at once on the damp grass , which would allay their thirst slightly . We allowed them to scatter over several thousand acres , for we were anxious to graze them well before the sun absorbed the moisture , but at the same time every step they took was one less to the coveted Powder River . When we had grazed the herd forward several miles , and the sun was nearly an hour high , the wagon failed to come up , which caused our foreman some slight uneasiness .