midnight
Men listened when Jondo spoke . `` I believe we are in danger , but you have doubted my word . I leave the days to prove who is right . At midnight I sent Gail Clarenden to find out what is beyond that ridge -- a band of men running parallel with us that shadows us day by day . If he is not here in ten minutes , we must go after him . '' A hush fell on the camp . The oxen switched at the first nipping insects of the morning , and the ponies and mules , with that horse-sense that all horsemen have observed in them at times , stood as if waiting for a decision to be made .