midnight
Then he bolted into the shadows of the oaks and sage brush . We pursued , but he ran fast , dodging like a rabbit , till he tumbled over and over -- paralysed by fear and fatigue . We carried him back to the ranch-house , propped him up in a chair , and despatched Uncle Jake for a doctor . Before midnight we learned what little there was to know . Mary had been chased by the Coon Dogs . He , of course , was a-foot ; the cowboys were mounted . A couple of barbed-wire fences had saved him from capture .