ten o'clock
` Poor little thing . ' It was just aiming for somebody 's hencoop . One of 'em 'll eat chickens faster than Gran 's hens can hatch 'em out . '' Pushing on through the woods at this slow pace brought them to the ruined grist mill and the old dam not before ten o'clock . There was a pale and watery moon , the shine of which glistened on the falling water over the old logs of the dam , but gave the searchers little light . The moon 's rays merely aided in making the surroundings of the mill more ghostly . Nobody lived within a mile of the mill site , Curly assured the girls , and if Amy had found this place it was not likely that she had likewise found the nearest human habitation , for that was beyond the mill and directly opposite to Briarwood and the town of Lumberton .