one o'clock
Out on the prairie -- now dimly lighted by the rays of the waning moon -- the pickets at the east had descried no moving objects . Every now and then the yelp of a coyote on one side of camp would be echoed far over at the other . These , with an occasional paw or snort from the side-lined herd , and the murmuring rush of the river over its gravelly bed , were the only sounds that drifted to the night-watchers from the sleeping bivouac . Towards one o'clock the sergeant of the guard came out to take a peep . Later , about two , Lieutenant Sanders , officer of the guard , a plucky little chap of whom the men were especially fond , made his way around the chain of posts and stayed some time peering with his glass over the dim vista of prairie to the eastward . `` I declare I thought I saw something moving out there , '' he muttered , after long study . `` Are you sure you 've seen or heard nothing ? ''