about three o’clock
The child soon fell asleep , and lay heavily in his mother 's lap . The poor , frightened old woman at last forgot her fears ; and , even Eliza , as the night waned , found all her anxieties insufficient to keep her eyes from closing . Phineas seemed , on the whole , the briskest of the company , and beguiled his long drive with whistling certain very unquaker-like songs , as he went on . But about three o'clock George 's ear caught the hasty and decided click of a horse 's hoof coming behind them at some distance and jogged Phineas by the elbow . Phineas pulled up his horses , and listened . `` That must be Michael , '' he said ; `` I think I know the sound of his gallop ; '' and he rose up and stretched his head anxiously back over the road . A man riding in hot haste was now dimly descried at the top of a distant hill .