midnight
Tirelessly all day long they rose and fell as the ponies ate up the distance to the Drowned Buffalo , stopping only at the creeks to water the horses . By twos and threes they met , galloping together -- speaking not . The moon rose big and red over their backs , the wolves stopped howling and scurried to one side -- the ceaseless thud of the falling hoofs continued monotonously , broken only by the crack of a lash across a horse 's flank . At midnight the faithful twenty men were still seated in a row around Iron Horn while the horses , too tired to eat , hung their heads . The old chief dismissed his war-party saying : `` To-morrow we will make the mystery -- we will find out whether the Good Gods will go with us to war or let us go alone . '' Sunrise found the ponies feeding quietly , having recovered themselves , while the robed aspirants sat in a circle ; the grass having been removed from the enclosed space and leveled down . A young man filled the long medicine-pipe and Iron Horn blew sacrificial puffs about him , passing it in , saying : `` Let no man touch the pipe who has eaten meat since the beginning of the last sun .