eight o'clock
On the other hand , Aurelia would probably know that I should choose the combe road . Still , even if she sent out mounted men , she would find me hard to track , since the combes were lonely , so lonely that for hours together you can walk there without meeting anybody . There would be plentiful cover among the combes in case I wished to lie low . Besides , I had a famous start , a five hours ' start ; for I should not be missed until eight o'clock . It could not then have been much more than half-past two . In five hours an active boy , even if he knew not the road , might put some half a dozen miles behind him . I say only half a dozen miles , because the roads were the roughest of rough mud-tracks , still soft from the rains .