about ten o'clock
`` We must hope that they will prove friendly , for if not we shall have to beat them or be cut to pieces . However , we will trust to your watchfulness , and pick up a little strength to continue our journey . '' We accordingly lay down under the waggon , and in less than a minute were fast asleep . We rested till about ten o'clock , when Aunt Hannah , as Uncle Stephen had desired , awoke us . Not a human being had approached the valley , though she said that she had seen some creatures moving along on the top of the heights ; but what they were she could not make out , though they did not look , she thought , like deer . Having taken a hurried meal , we again yoked the oxen ; and going behind with crowbars to assist , we commenced the ascent of the hill . It was harder work than we expected , but , by making a zigzag course , in about half an hour we got to the top .