midnight
`` If I remember right , this ridge is not nearly half-way to the place where dad and I always camped when we went to Sutter 's Fort ; and it must be nearly noon now , '' and he glanced upward at the sun , which was fast nearing the zenith . `` Say , but these old pack-horses are as slow as oxen . I wonder if we ca n't do something to hurry them up ? '' `` We 've got to make the old camping-ground tonight , if it takes us till midnight , '' Bud answered emphatically . `` That is , we 've got to , if we expect to get to Sacramento City to-morrow ; and that 's where I , for one , expect to be sometime to-morrow night . I reckon , we 'll have to drive them pack-horses in front of us and use the whip a little . '' `` A bully idea , '' Thure agreed .