midnight
And while she was upstairs Clark had shot and killed Howard Lucas , and himself disappeared . He had run , testimony at the inquest revealed , to the corral , and saddled a horse . Although it was only October , it was snowing hard , but in spite of that he had turned his horse toward the mountains . By midnight a posse from Norada had started out , and another up the Dry River Canyon , but the storm turned into a blizzard in the mountains , and they were obliged to turn back . A few inches more snow , and they could not have got their horses out . A week or so later , with a crust of ice over it , a few of them began again , with no expectation , however , of finding Clark alive . They came across his horse on the second day , but they did not find him , and there were some among them who felt that , after all , old Elihu Clark 's boy had chosen the better way .