about
two o'clock in the morning
Though neither of them had explored the mountains before , they were quite satisfied from what they knew of the general formation of the country that there were gullies , even valleys , where an army might lie hidden . So confident were the two adventurers that there was no danger of pursuit that they did not press forward at anything like a reasonable speed . They took things easy . Somewhere about two o'clock in the morning they halted and removed the blanket-pads from their horses ' hoofs . Mr. Cumshaw was just going to throw them into the bushes when Mr. Bradby stopped him . `` Do n't do that , '' he said , `` we 'd better destroy them outright . '' `` How ? ''