Midnight
He plunged into the curly mesquite , driving forward straight as an arrow . Behind him in the darkness followed a shadow , sinister and silent , out of sight , but within sound of the horse 's footfall . It stopped when Wadley stopped ; when he moved , it moved . Midnight found young Wadley still moving straight forward , the moon on his left . Painted Rock was ten miles to the west . Except for the stage station there , and the settlement he had left , there was no other habitation for fifty miles . It was a wilderness of silence .