nearly four o'clock
`` If that girl is n't more than half savage , '' said Dade , to himself , as Harney tore away out of the garrison on the road to the ford , `` I am more than half Sioux . Oh , for news of Ray ! '' Ray indeed ! It was now nearly four o'clock . Telegrams had been coming and going over the Laramie wire . `` The Chief , '' as they called their general , with only one of his staff in attendance , had reached Cheyenne on time , and , quitting the train , declining dinner at the hotel and having but a word or two with the `` Platform Club , '' -- the little bevy of officers from Fort Russell whose custom it was to see the westbound train through almost every day -- had started straightway for Laramie behind the swiftest team owned by the quartermaster 's department , while another , in relay , awaited him at the Chugwater nearly fifty miles out . Driving steadily through the starlit night , he should reach the old frontier fort by dawn at the latest , and what news would Dade have to send him there ?