three o'clock
Therefore , the wagon must return before night . But could Ben and Betty make Clark 's and the return trip before then ? So far , they had never done it . The previous summer , the drive was begun at dawn , when dawn was at three o'clock . `` We 'll just have to hike along , '' she said aloud to Marylyn . Into the coulée slid the wagon , its long tongue in the air , the loose tugs hitting the mules in the hock . When the team had scrambled up the farther side , Dallas put them to a trot by a flick of the black-snake .