nine o'clock
The turnpike ended ; they were making equally rapid progress over the dirt road which was in perfect condition as there had been no rain for several days . The beat of the flying hoofs was soft now ; the two men 's voices , fell into a lower key ; the moon marked out the line of the road clearly , made strange spectral minglings of light and darkness in the woods , glorified the open fields and gave the occasional groups of farm buildings an ancient beauty and dignity . The girl slept . At nine o'clock the twenty-mile drive ended in a long , slow climb up a road so washed out , so full of holes and bowlders , that it was no road at all but simply a weather-beaten hillside . A mile of this , with the liveryman 's curses -- `` dod rot it '' and `` gosh dang it '' and similar modifications of profanity for Christian use and for the presence of `` the sex '' -- ringing out at every step . Susan soon awakened , rather because the surrey was pitching so wildly than because of Goslin 's denunciations . A brief level stretch and they stopped for Warham to open the outer gate into his brother Zeke 's big farm .