ten o'clock
Realizing that we were confronting the most dangerous night in all my cattle experience , I ordered every man into the saddle . The remuda and team were taken in charge by the wrangler and cook , and going from man to man , I warned them what the consequences would be if we lost the herd during the night , and the cattle reached the creek . The cattle surged and drifted almost at will , for we were compelled to hold them loose to avoid milling . Before ten o'clock the lightning was flickering overhead and around us , revealing acres of big beeves , which in an instant might take fright , and then , God help us . But in that night of trial a mercy was extended to the dumb brutes in charge . A warm rain began falling , first in a drizzle , increasing after the first hour , and by midnight we could hear the water slushing under our horses ' feet . By the almost constant flashes of lightning we could see the cattle standing as if asleep , in grateful enjoyment of the sheeting downpour .