midnight
Camp Sandy was cut off from the world , and the actual garrison left to guard the post and protect the women , children and the sick as eleven o'clock drew nigh , was exactly forty men of the fighting force . It was believed that Stout 's couriers would make the homeward run , very nearly , by the route the pack-train took throughout the day , and if they succeeded in evading hostile scouts or parties , would soon appear about some of the breaks of the upper Beaver . Thither , therefore , with all possible speed Plume had directed his men , promising Mrs. Sanders , as he rode away , that the moment a runner was encountered he would send a light rider at the gallop , on his own good horse -- that not a moment should be lost in bearing them the news . But midnight came without a sign . Long before that hour , as though by common impulse , almost all the women of the garrison had gathered about Truman 's quarters , now the northernmost of the row and in plain view of the confluence of the Sandy and the Beaver . Dr. Graham , who had been swinging to and fro between the limits of the Shaughnessys ' and the hospital , stopped to speak with them a moment and gently drew Angela to one side . His grave and rugged face was sweet in its tenderness as he looked down into her brimming eyes .