nine o'clock
The other ten horses we led behind by halters . Asa Doane , one of our hired men at the farm , drove the three spans on the scoot ; Addison and I sat on the load behind and held the halters of the led horses . We had often taken horses into the woods in that way , and expected to have no trouble this time ; although these horses were young , they were not high-spirited or mettlesome . We started at daybreak , and expected , if all went well , to reach the first of the two lumber camps by nine o'clock that evening . We had a passenger with us -- an eccentric old hunter named Tommy Goss , with his traps and gun . He had come to the farm the previous night , on his way up to his trapping grounds beyond the logging camps , and as his pack was heavy , he was glad of a lift on the scoot . Tommy was a queer , reticent old man ; I wanted him to tell me about his trapping , but could get scarcely a word from him .