about eight o'clock in the morning
Well , said I to myself , at this rate I shall soon be with my dear father and mother ; and till I had got , as I supposed , half-way , I thought of the good friends I had left : And when , on stopping for a little bait to the horses , Robin told me I was near half-way , I thought it was high time to wipe my eyes , and think to whom I was going ; as then , alack for me ! I thought . So I began to ponder what a meeting I should have with you ; how glad you 'd both be to see me come safe and innocent to you , after all my dangers : and so I began to comfort myself , and to banish the other gloomy side from my mind ; though , too , it returned now and then ; for I should be ungrateful not to love them for their love . Well , I believe I set out about eight o'clock in the morning ; and I wondered and wondered , when it was about two , as I saw by a church dial , in a little village as we passed through , that I was still more and more out of my knowledge . Hey-day , thought I , to drive this strange pace , and to be so long a going a little more than twenty miles , is very odd ! But to be sure , thought I , Robin knows the way . At last he stopped , and looked about him , as if he was at a loss for the road ; and I said , Mr. Robert , sure you are out of the way !