midnight
Separated in some way from the detachment , Donovan and his companion had probably sighted the signal blazing at the pass and come riding hard to reach the spot , when the unseen foe crouching across their path had suddenly fired the fatal shots . Now , where was the paymaster ? Where the escort ? Where the men who fed the signal-fire , -- the fire that long before midnight had died utterly away . Whither should the weary detachment direct its march ? Ceralvo 's lay a dozen miles off to the northwest , Moreno 's perhaps eight or nine to the southeast . Why had the escaped trooper headed his fleeing steed in that direction ?