five in the morning
It had been arranged that when the Plumes were ready to start , Mrs. Daly and her daughter , the newly widowed and the fatherless , should be sent up to Prescott and thence across the desert to Ehrenberg , on the Colorado . While no hostile Apaches had been seen west of the Verde Valley , there were traces that told that they were watching the road as far at least as the Agua Fria , and a sergeant and six men had been chosen to go as escort to the little convoy . It had been supposed that Plume would prefer to start in the morning and go as far as Stemmer 's ranch , in the Agua Fria Valley , and there rest his invalid wife until another day , thus breaking the fifty-mile stage through the mountains . To the surprise of everybody , the Dalys were warned to be in readiness to start at five in the morning , and to go through to Prescott that day . At five in the morning , therefore , the quartermaster 's ambulance was at the post trader 's house , where the recently bereaved ones had been harbored since poor Daly 's death , and there , with their generous host , was the widow 's former patient , Blakely , full of sympathy and solicitude , come to say good-bye . Plume 's own Concord appeared almost at the instant in front of his quarters , and presently Mrs. Plume , veiled and obviously far from strong , came forth leaning on her husband 's arm , and closely followed by Elise . Then , despite the early hour , and to the dismay of Plume , who had planned to start without farewell demonstration of any kind , lights were blinking in almost every house along the row , and a flock of women , some tender and sympathetic , some morbidly curious , had gathered to wish the major 's wife a pleasant journey and a speedy recovery .