noon
They watched him and the gray pony pass and return to the hostiles on the hill . Then they saw the hostiles melt away like magic . Their prophet had told them to go to their tepees and wait for the great rain he would now bring . It was noon , and the sky utterly blue over the bright valley . The sun rode a space nearer the west , and the thick black clouds assembled in the mountains and descended ; their shadow flooded the valley with a lake of slatish blue , and presently the sudden torrents sluiced down with flashes and the ample thunder of Montana . Thus not alone the law against our soldiers firing the first shot in an Indian excitement , but now also the elements coincided to help the medicine-man 's destiny . Cheschapah sat in a tepee with his father , and as the rain splashed heavily on the earth the old man gazed at the young one .