midnight
Fortunately we had now no doubt as to our direction , since standing up through the mists of dawn with the sunbeams resting on its forest-clad crest , we could clearly see the strange , tumulus-shaped hill which the White Kendah called the Holy Mount , the Home of the Child . It appeared to be about twenty miles away , but in reality was a good deal farther , for when we had walked for several hours it seemed almost as distant as ever . In truth that was a dreadful trudge . Not only was I exhausted with all the terrors I had passed and our long midnight flight , but the wound where Jana had pinched out a portion of my frame , inflamed by the riding , had now grown stiff and intolerably sore , so that every step gave me pain which sometimes culminated in agony . Moreover , it was no use giving in , foodless as we were , for Marût had carried the provisions , and with the chance of Jana returning to look us up . So I stuck to it and said nothing . For the first ten miles the country seemed uninhabited ; doubtless it was too near the borders of the Black Kendah to be popular as a place of residence .