noon
It was decidedly that officer 's opinion that Armstrong knew much more than he would tell . But Armstrong knew much less than he himself believed . Hastening back to camp and ordering his horse , he was soon speeding up the slope to the wind-swept heights overlooking the Golden Gate . The morning had opened fine as silk , but by noon the sky was hidden in clouds and the breath of the sea blew in salt and strong . The whitecaps were leaping on the crest of the surges driving in through the straits and the surf bursting high on the jagged rocks at the base of the cliffs . A little coast steamer from Santa Barbara way came pitching and plunging in from sea , and one or two venturesome craft , heeling far to leeward , tore through the billows and tossed far astern a frothing wake . With manes and tails streaming in the stiff gale , the troop horses of the Fourth Cavalry were cropping at the scanty herbage down the northward slope , and the herd guard nearest the road lost his grip on his drab campaign hat as he essayed a salute , and galloped off on a stern chase down the long ravine to the east , as the colonel trotted briskly by .