Midnight
Hampton had no confidence in his sullen , treacherous companion ; he looked for early trouble , yet he had little fear regarding any attempt at escape now . Murphy was a plainsman , and would realize the horror of being alone , unarmed , and without food on those demon-haunted prairies . Besides , the silent man behind was astride the better animal . Midnight , and they pulled up amid the deeper gloom of a great , overhanging bluff , having numerous trees near its summit . There was the glow of a distant fire upon their left , which reddened the sky , and reflected oddly on the edges of a vast cloud-mass rolling up threateningly from the west . Neither knew definitely where they were , although Murphy guessed the narrow stream they had just forded might be the upper waters of the Tongue . Their horses stood with heads hanging wearily down , their sides rising and falling ; and Hampton , rolling stiffly from the saddle , hastily loosened his girth .