About four o'clock
`` Walt tried that last night , and you know what happened to him . '' `` Yes , but Chunky would not come out of it quite so well , '' spoke up Tad . `` I reckon he 'd break a rock or two on the way down , '' grinned Ned Rector , clucking to his pony . About four o'clock that afternoon Lige announced that they had arrived at their destination . Yet not a sign of Jose and the pack train could they find . He had not arrived . The faces of the Pony Riders grew long at this , for the ride had given them an appetite that would not bear trifling with .