about midnight
Most of them had gone to a dance at Arena , a cattle town six miles east , and it was high time they were returning , for now it was after three . `` What 's all the row about anyhow ? '' demanded the night watchman of one of these establishments . `` There was that cockney sergeant fellow here along about midnight , asking questions and raising hell . The town marshal had a rumpus with him and went to bed mad . '' The half-dozen hangers-on about the railway station , and the roisterers at the one , open-all-night saloon were growing inquisitive , if not impudent . The station-master had gone home , but the lone operator to whom , one after another , Field , Ennis , and Mayhew had appealed , declared that no young lady had gone on Number Six , for the reason that Number Six had n't gone and would n't go till ` long toward daylight .