midnight
Sile was in no wise disconcerted , but rode back to the main body in excellent spirits . It was the first real danger of any sort that the expedition had encountered , and there was a keen excitement in it . He had read of such things , and now he was in one without the least idea in the world but what everything would come out all right , just as it does in a novel . Before midnight he had asked every other human being around him all the questions he could think of , and had dismounted four times to examine the grass at the wayside and see if it were of any better quality . Each time he was compelled to mount again and ride on to his father , `` Chips . '' When bunch-grass gets to be so dry that it will crumble in the fingers it ceases to be of any use except to carry a prairie-fire in a great hurry . It will do that wonderfully , but it will not do to feed animals on , and it was needful to have something better .