eight o'clock
I was only twenty-one and Judson may have been right about my being callow . But I was satisfied with myself , as youth and inexperience will be . Travelling was slow in those rough-going times , and a breakdown on a steep bit of road delayed us . Instead of reaching home at sunset , we did not reach the ford of the Neosho until eight o'clock . As I went up Cliff Street I turned by the bushes and slid down the rough stairway to the ledge below `` Rockport . '' I had passed under the broad , overhanging shelf that made the old playground above , when I suddenly became aware of the nearness of some one to me , the peculiar consciousness of the presence of a human being . The place was in deep shadow , although the full moon was sailing in glory over the prairies , as it had done above the lone Topeka locust tree .