nearly midnight
Men rose at dawn and sent the horses forth to graze all day in the foothills under heavy guard . It was too hot for drills , with the mercury sizzling at the hundred mark . Indian prisoners did the `` police '' work about the post ; and men and women dozed and wilted in the shade until the late afternoon recall . Then Sandy woke up and energetically stabled , drilled , paraded under arms at sunset , mounted guard immediately thereafter , dined in spotless white ; then rode , drove , flirted , danced , gossiped , made mirth , melody , or monotonous plaint till nearly midnight ; then slept until the dawn of another day . Indians there were in the wilds of the Mogollon to the southeast , and , sometimes at rare intervals straying from the big reservation up the valley , they scared the scattered settlers of the Agua Fria and the Hassayampa ; but Sandy rarely knew of them except as prisoners . Not a hostile shot had been fired in the surrounding mountains for at least six months , so nobody felt the least alarm , and many only languid interest , when the white-coated officers reported the result of sunset roll-call and inspection , and , saluting Major Plume , the captain of `` C '' Troop announced in tones he meant should be heard along the row : `` Mr. Blakely , sir , is absent ! '' Three women were seated at the moment on the front veranda of the major 's quarters -- Mrs. Plume , Miss Janet Wren , the captain 's sister , and little Mrs. Bridger .