About midnight
But before long they made an angle and turned almost due west . It was their intention to intersect the settlements that lay between the Rio Grande and San Antonio and give warning of the approach of Santa Anna . They went on steadily over a rolling country , mostly bare , but with occasional clumps of trees . About midnight they rode into the thickest part of the woods that they could find , and slept there until day . Then they continued their course toward the west , and before night they saw afar small bands of horsemen . `` What do you say they are ? '' asked the Panther of Ned when they beheld the first group .