six o'clock
`` Thank you , Dick . '' Dick , in his haste to be off did not notice that the colonel 's voice quivered and that his face flushed as he uttered the emphatic `` thank you . '' A few minutes later he was riding swiftly southward over a road that he knew well . His start was made at six o'clock and he was sure that by ten o'clock he would be in Pendleton . The road was deserted . This was a well-peopled country , and he saw many houses , but nearly always the doors and shutters of the windows were closed . The men were away , and the women and children were shutting out the bands that robbed in the name of either army .