midnight
One of the best-known devices , in short grass and flank-fires , was the killing of a light beef , beheading and splitting it open , leaving the hide to hold the parts together . By turning the animal flesh side down and taking ropes from a front and hind foot to the pommels of two saddles , the men , by riding apart , could straddle the flames , virtually rubbing the fire out with the dragging carcass . Other men followed with wet blankets and beat out any remaining flames , the work being carried on at a gallop , with a change of horses every mile or so , and the fire was thus constantly hemmed in to a point . The variations of the wind sometimes entirely checked all effort , between midnight and morning being the hours in which most progress was accomplished . No sooner was one section of the fire brought under control than we divided the forces and hastened to lend assistance to the next nearest section , the cooks with commissaries following up the firefighters . While a single blade of grass was burning , no one thought of sleeping , and after one third of the range was consumed , the last of the incendiary fires was stamped out , when we lay down around the wagons and slept the sleep of exhaustion . There was still enough range saved to bring the cattle safely through until spring .