nearly seven o'clock
`` Nevertheless , '' retorted Ross , `` you were packing the head , and I must count you in the game . '' Edwards fell silent then , but something in his look deepened the ranger 's pity . His eyes were large and dark , and his face so emaciated that he seemed fit only for a sanitarium . The trip to the Fork -LRB- timed to the gait of a lazy pack-horse -RRB- was a tedious eight hours ' march , and it was nearly seven o'clock when they arrived at the outskirts of the village . There had been very few words spoken by Cavanagh , and those which the prisoners uttered were not calculated to cheer the way . Joe blamed his guide for their mishap . `` You should have known how far the sound of our guns would carry , '' he said .