midnight
The cattle surged and drifted almost at will , for we were compelled to hold them loose to avoid milling . Before ten o'clock the lightning was flickering overhead and around us , revealing acres of big beeves , which in an instant might take fright , and then , God help us . But in that night of trial a mercy was extended to the dumb brutes in charge . A warm rain began falling , first in a drizzle , increasing after the first hour , and by midnight we could hear the water slushing under our horses ' feet . By the almost constant flashes of lightning we could see the cattle standing as if asleep , in grateful enjoyment of the sheeting downpour . As the night wore on , our fears of a stampede abated , for the buffalo wallows on the mesa filled , and water was on every hand . The rain ceased before dawn , but owing to the saturated condition underfoot , not a hoof lay down during the night , and when the gray of morning streaked the east , what a sense of relief it brought us .