eleven o'clock
The lads joked each other about having the `` creeps , '' but none would admit the charge . Walter , with rifle slung over his right shoulder , went out on the first watch with instructions to go at least two hundred yards from camp and keep walking around the camp in a circle . This would protect them from surprises on all sides . Ned decided not to retire until he had taken his guard trick , in view of the fact that he was to go on at eleven o'clock . But Stacy , proposing to get all the sleep he was entitled to , turned in early . The rest did not disturb him . The boys were unusually quiet that evening , perhaps feeling that the responsibility of the safety of the camp rested wholly upon their youthful shoulders .