midnight
By the gate he tarried a moment , put his arms round Shot 's shaggy neck and kissed him , sprang on Bess ' back , gave one last look at Pine Tree Ranch , and was off . There , in a silent , awed group , they stood in the door-yard and watched him go through the pasture gate . Across the hills , the sunset and the twilight fell on forest and fields and hearts . That night , men say , a dark shadow stole out of the graveyard at midnight and galloped away . Far below in the Coyote Valley , where the road to the plains goes down from the hill , some one said that -- lying awake near the window , in the stillness which comes towards morning -- he heard the sound of horse 's hoofs going by , and rider and horse swept on far down the road . -LSB- Illustration : FINIS -RSB- -LSB- Illustration : -LRB- decoration -RRB- -RSB- On Pine Tree mountain the old house still stands , its windows hidden beneath vines .