noon
Night fell , and in the clear moonlight they forced their way across the Prairie Dog , and neither man nor horse dared to stop to drink because an instant 's pause meant death . And the evening and the morning were the first day . And the second was like unto it , albeit we were no longer a triangle , made up of wagon-train here and main command there , and our twenty-nine -- less two lost ones -- under Captain Jenness , at a third point . Before noon , our force was all united and we joined hands for the finish . Beverly and I rode side by side all day . Everywhere around us the half-breed , Charlie Bent , dashed boldly on his big , white horse calling us cowardly dogs and taunting us with lack of marksmanship . `` I 'm getting tired of that fellow , Gail .