four o'clock
The living sheltered themselves behind the bodies of their dead , fighting now in desperation , their horses stampeded , their ammunition all gone excepting the few cartridges remaining in the waist-belts . From lip to lip passed the one vital question : `` In God 's name , where is Reno ? What has become of the rest of the boys ? '' It was four o'clock . For two long hours they had been engaged in ceaseless struggle ; and now barely a hundred men , smoke-begrimed , thirsty , bleeding , half their carbines empty , they still formed an impenetrable ring around their chief . The struggle was over , and they realized the fact . When that wave of savage horsemen swept forth again it would be to ride them down , to crush them under their horses ' pounding hoofs .