eight
o'clock
Long , broad , shallow dips or basins lay between broad , wide , far-extending , yet slight , upheavals . Through the shallows turned and twisted dozens of dry arroyos , all gradually trending toward the Platte , -- the drainage system of the frontier . Five miles out began the ascent to the taller divides and ridges that gradually , and with many an intervening dip , rose to the watershed between the Platte and the score of tiny tributaries that united to form the South Cheyenne . It was over Moccasin , or Ten Mile , Ridge , as it was often called , and close to the now abandoned stage road , Ray 's daring little command had disappeared from view toward eight o'clock . It was at least two , possibly three , miles east of the stage-road that the solitary courier had first been sighted , and when later seen by the major and certain others of the swift gathering spectators , he was heading for Frayne , though still far east of the highroad . And now Mrs. Ray , on the north piazza , with Webb by her side and Nannie Blake , Mrs. Dade and Esther in close attendance , was briefly telling the major what she had seen up stream . One glance through Sandy 's glass had told her the little fellow had not watched in vain .