six in the morning
The watch outside heard the alarm go off , so that when , half an hour later , he emerged from the cabin , he found waiting for him a band , not of sixty men , but of at least three hundred . A flaming aurora borealis lighted the scene , and , thus hugely escorted , he walked down to town and entered the Elkhorn . The place was immediately packed and jammed by an anxious and irritated multitude that bought drinks , and for four weary hours watched Smoke play cribbage with his old friend Breck . Shortly after six in the morning , with an expression on his face of commingled hatred and gloom , seeing no one , recognizing no one , Smoke left the Elkhorn and went up Main Street , behind him the three hundred , formed in disorderly ranks , chanting : `` Hay-foot ! Straw-foot ! Hep ! Hep !