midnight
It was promptly inclosed in the letter , addressed to Master James Lasham . The `` infant '' started with it to the post-office , and Daddy Folsom returned to Lasham 's cabin to relieve the watcher that had been detached from Falloner 's to take his place beside the sick man . Meanwhile the rain fell steadily and the shadows crept higher and higher up the mountain . Towards midnight the star points faded out one by one over Sawyer 's Ledge even as they had come , with the difference that the illumination of Falloner 's cabin was extinguished first , while the dim light of Lasham 's increased in number . Later , two stars seemed to shoot from the centre of the ledge , trailing along the descent , until they were lost in the obscurity of the slope -- the lights of the stage-coach to Sacramento carrying the mail and Robert Falloner . They met and passed two fainter lights toiling up the road -- the buggy lights of the doctor , hastily summoned from Carterville to the bedside of the dying Dick Lasham . The slowing up of his train caused Bob Falloner to start from a half doze in a Western Pullman car .