midnight
Then , after a strong handclasp , they rode away by different roads , each riding with a lighter heart . Dick 's horse had had a good rest , and he was fighting for his head before they were clear of the outskirts of Pendleton . When the road emerged once more into the deep woods the boy gave him the rein . It was well past midnight now , and he wished to reach the army before dawn . Soon the great horse was galloping , and Dick felt exhilaration as the cool air of early October rushed past . The heat in both east and west had been so long and intense , that year , that the coming of autumn was full of tonic . Yet the uncommon dryness , the least rainy summer and autumn in two generations , still prevailed .