ten o'clock
He had a sense of the end of a long strain of which he had until then been unconscious . `` NOW I can go away and rest , '' he said to himself . And at sundown he set out for his farm . He arrived at ten o'clock , by moonlight , amid a baying of dogs so energetic that it roused every living thing in the barnyard to protest in a peevish chorus of clucking and grunting and quacking and squealing . `` What on airth ! '' exclaimed Mrs. Gabbard , his farmer 's wife , standing at the back door , in calico skirt and big shawl . When she saw who it was , her irritated voice changed to welcome .