midnight
A second night-drive brought us to Cisternas Negras , and the third to Date Creek , from which last point we resumed travelling by daylight . At Skull Valley , at the earnest request of Miss Brenda Arnold , Henry was allowed to remain for a few days ' visit . He promised to join the next incoming mail-rider , and to ride back to the fort by way of the mountain-trail . It was near midnight , four days after my return from La Paz , that I sat by my open fire , absorbed in a recently published popular novel . I was suddenly aroused by a distant and rapid clatter of horse 's feet . The sound came distinctly through the loop-holes in the outer wall of the room -- loop-holes made for rifles and left open for ventilation . Dropping my book upon the table , I listened intently to the hoof-beats .