ten o'clock
Their path lay directly to the south for about two miles . Having traversed this distance they reached cross-roads , one of which branched towards the left and was soon lost in a rough brown upland , into which it branched by several little pathways that terminated in little villages or solitary farmer 's houses . For about two miles more they were obliged to cross a dark reach of waste moor , where the soil was strong and well capable of cultivation . Having avoided the villages and more public thoroughfares , they pushed upward until they came into the black heath itself , where it was impossible that horses could travel in such darkness as then prevailed ; for it was past ten o'clock , near the close of December . Clinton consequently left his horse in the care of two soldiers on a bit of green meadow by the side of Ahadarra Lough -- a small tarn or mountain lake about two hundred yards in diameter . They then pushed up a long round swelling hill , on the other side of which was a considerable stretch of cultivated land with Bryan M'Mahon 's new and improved houses at the head of it . This they kept to their right until they came in sight of the wild but beautiful and picturesque Glen of Althadhawan , which however was somewhat beyond the distance they had to go .