nearly midnight
`` I 'll come out with you . '' `` And now we 'd better go home . '' `` I guess we had . It must be nearly midnight . '' They arose from their cramped positions on the ground and stealthily began to retrace their steps . They were even more wary on their way out than they had been going in , for they could not be sure that they would not meet some of the men they had seen about the old house . Just before they came to the end of the wagon-road they heard the sound of a motor and saw the lights of an automobile speeding down the main road in the direction of High Ridge .