two o'clock
Mother McKay set to work at the packing of provisions for the expedition . She was heart and soul in the enterprise , and would have her interests represented by her son Bill , the worst rascal , hardest fighter and most devoted son in St. John 's . She had a hold on some of the small farmers around -- in fact , she owned several of the farms -- so it was not long before Bill and his companions returned , each in possession of a horse and sled . The expedition set out at two o'clock of a windless , frosty , star-lit morning . They travelled the roads which John Darling had followed , several days before ; but now the mud-holes and quaking bogs were frozen and covered with snow . Bill McKay drove the sled that led the way at a pace that gave the following teamsters all they could do to keep in touch ; but willing hands manned the whips and hammering sled-stakes . Now and again one or another of the raiders would fall off a sled and necessitate a halt ; and so the poor horses were given a chance , now and again , to recover something of their lost wind .