midnight
The cattle of the North always had the flesh to withstand the rigors of the wintry season , dry , cold , zero weather being preferable to rain , sleet , and the northers that swept across the plains of Texas . The range of the new company was intermediate between the extremes of north and south , and as we handled all steer cattle , no one entertained any fear from the climate . I passed a comparatively idle winter at my home on the Clear Fork . Weekly reports reached me from the new ranch , several of which caused uneasiness , as our fences were several times cut on the southwest , and a prairie fire , the work of an incendiary , broke out at midnight on our range . Happily the wind fell , and by daybreak the smoke arose in columns , summoning every man on the ranch , and the fire was soon brought under control . As a precaution to such a possibility we had burned fire-guards entirely around the range by plowing furrows one hundred feet apart and burning out the middle . Taking advantage of creeks and watercourses , natural boundaries that a prairie fire could hardly jump , we had cut and quartered the pasture with fire-guards in such a manner that , unless there was a concerted action on the part of any hirelings of our enemies , it would have been impossible to have burned more than a small portion of the range at any one time .