nearly midnight
He had taken scarcely a dozen steps when he struck into a long , loping trot , not particularly rapid in itself , but of such a character that it could be kept for hours at a stretch . It was the genuine Indian dog trot , which is so effective in long distances . As the runner went along in this fashion , his thoughts were busy , and all his senses on the alert . He concluded that it was nearly midnight , and that he had , consequently , a number of hours at his command ; so he aimed to get as far below the intercepting Apaches as possible , with the intention of returning to the river , before daylight , where he was hopeful of discovering some canoe , or at least of hitting upon some feasible method of hiding his trail from his lynx-eyed pursuers . This loping trot was kept up for fully two hours , at the end of which time Tom was certain that he was approaching the river again . He still pressed forward for another hour , when he came to a halt . Although he had continued this great exertion for so long a time , yet so good was his wind that when he paused there was no perceptible quickening of the respiration .