eleven o'clock
`` They were over-driven to start with , and that was what knocked them up ; but the blacks will begin to feel themselves safe today , and will let them go their own pace . Sheep can do twenty miles in a day , if not hurried . '' `` Well , at any rate , '' Reuben said , `` we will give our horses a couple of hours ' rest . It is just eleven o'clock now , and I should think everyone is ready for a meal . '' There was a chorus of assent . The troop dismounted at once . The girths were loosened , the bits taken from the horses ' mouths , and they were turned loose to graze in the long grass at the foot of the hill .