six o'clock
`` Dat will do for de present , '' he said ; `` now for business . If dey wait till it get dark , all right ; if not , Sam do for Nunez and two or three more , and den go down with Massa Peter ! '' Then carefully examining the priming of the pair of pistols , which he carried -- the very pistols given to Peter by the passengers of the Marlborough coach -- he prepared to set out . It was now six o'clock , and he calculated that the waggon would by this time have mounted the hill , and reached the village ; he had already collected a large heap of dry sticks and some logs , at the point Tom had pointed out , these he now lit , and then started for the top of the hill . Looking back , just as he reached the crest , he could see , knowing where it was , a very light smoke curling up over a clump of trees which intervened between him and the fire , but it was so slight that he was convinced that it would not be noticed by an ordinary observer . Sam saw at once , on reaching the top of the hill , that the guerillas were crowded round the waggon , which stood at the edge of a small clump of trees in the middle of the village . The moment was favourable , and he at once started forward , sometimes making a detour , so as to have the shelter of a tree , sometimes stooping behind a low stone wall , until he reached the first house in the village .