8:30
So Blake 's instructions were to follow them without pushing , to let them feel they were being pursued , yet by no means to hasten them , and , if the general 's favorite scout proved to be all he promised as guide and pathfinder , Webb might reasonably hope by dint of hard night riding , to be first at the tryst at break of day . Then they would have the retreating Sioux , hampered by their few wounded and certain prisoners whom they prized , hemmed between rocky heights on every side , and sturdy horsemen front and rear . It was eight by the watch at the parting of the ways . It was 8:30 when Blake retook the trail , with Sergeants Schreiber and Winsor , the latter borrowed from Ray , far in the van . Even had the ground been hard and stony these keen-eyed soldier scouts could have followed the signs almost as unerringly as the Indians , for each had had long years of experience all over the West ; but , despite the steadily falling snow , the traces of hoofs and , for a time , of _ travois _ poles could be readily seen and followed in the dim gray light of the blanketed skies . Somewhere aloft , above the film of cloud , the silvery moon was shining , and that was illumination more than enough for men of their years on the trail . For over an hour Blake followed the windings of a ravine that grew closer and steeper as it burrowed into the hills .