nearly eight o'clock in the morning
It was nearly midnight anyway . The best thing to be done was unhitch , unsaddle and bivouac until the gray light of dawn came peering over the eastward prairie , which in that high latitude and `` long-day '' month would be soon after three . Then they could push on to Reno . Not until nearly eight o'clock in the morning , therefore , did they heave in sight of the low belt of dingy green that told of the presence of a stream still long miles away ; and here , knowing himself to be out of danger , the major bade the weary escort march in at a walk while he hurried on . In fifteen minutes the black-hooded wagon was twisting and turning over the powdery road a good mile ahead , its dust rising high over the sage-covered desert , while the other two , with the dust-begrimed troopers , jogged sturdily on . Loring , the young engineer , had waved a cordial good-by to his old cadet acquaintance . `` See you later , old man , '' he cried .