midnight
He half whispered the words in his anxiety . The ponies in the corral were greedily eating their hay , but the black mare Juno was gone . As Asher turned toward the house , he caught the low roaring of the tempest and felt a rush of cool wind from somewhere . A huge storm-wave of yellow dust was rolling out of the southwest ; beyond it the heavens were copper-green , and back of that , midnight darkness ; while , borne onward by its force , low waves of prairie fire were swept along the ground . Down at the third bend of the river where long growths overhung the stream , the flames crossed easily . Even as Asher Aydelot watched the storm cloud , long tongues of fire came licking up the valley toward him , not a towering height , but a swift crawling destruction which he looked at with unseeing eyes , for his only thought was for Virginia . `` How could I have missed her if she started to meet me ?