four
o'clock
In twenty minutes the pack mules were again strapped between the saplings , the little command was slowly climbing toward the westward heights , with Arnold and two of his friends scouting the rough trail and hillsides , firing at long intervals and listening in suspense almost intolerable for some answering signal . The other of their number had volunteered to follow Stout over the plateau toward the Pass and acquaint him with the latest news . While the sun was still high in the heavens , far to the northward , they faintly heard or thought they heard two rifle shots . At four o'clock , as they toiled through a tangle of rock and stunted pine , Arnold , riding well to the front , came suddenly out upon a bare ledge from which he could look over a wild , wide sweep of mountain side , stretching leagues to north and south , and there his keen and practiced eye was greeted by a sight that thrilled him with dread unspeakable . Dread , not for himself or his convoy of wounded , but dread for Angela . Jutting , from the dark fringe of pines along a projecting bluff , perhaps four miles away , little puffs or clouds of smoke , each separate and distinct , were sailing straight aloft in the pulseless air -- Indian signals beyond possibility of doubt . Some Apaches , then , were still hovering about the range overlooking the broad valley of the Sandy , some of the bands then were prowling in the mountains between the scouting troops and the garrisoned post .