ten o'clock
It was half-past six in the afternoon when they started , and they would reach Curlewis , which was the nearest railway station to Yarrahappini , about five the next morning . The expense of sleeping-berths had been out of the question with so many of them ; but in the rack with the bags were several rolls of rugs and two or three air-pillows against the weary hours . The idea of so many hours in the train had been delightful to all the young ones ; none of them but Judy had been a greater distance than forty or fifty miles before , and it seemed perfectly fascinating to think of rushing on and on through the blackness as well as the daylight . But long before ten o'clock a change came o'er the spirit of their dreams . Nell and Baby had had a quarrel over the puffing out of the air-cushions , and were too tired and cross to make it up again ; Pip had hit Bunty over the head for no ostensible reason , and received two kicks in return ; Judy 's head ached , and the noise , was not calculated to cure it ; Meg had grown weary of staring out into the moving darkness , and wondering whether Alan would notice she was never on the river-boat now ; and the poor little General was filling the hot air with expostulations , in the shape of loud roars , at the irregularities of the treatment he was undergoing . Esther had taken his day clothes off , and made a picture of him in a cream flannel nightgown and a pink wool jacket . And for half an hour , he had submitted good-temperedly to being handed about and tickled and half-smothered with kisses .