ten o'clock
Each was preoccupied and silent , with troubled thoughts that might not be spoken . Often , as the forenoon passed , Sibyl saw the man listening , as though for a step on the mountainside above . She knew , without being told , that the convict was expecting his master . It was , perhaps , ten o'clock , when they heard a sound that told them some one was approaching . The man caught up his rifle and slipped a round of cartridges into the magazine ; saying to the girl , `` Go into the cabin and bar the door ; quick , do as I say ! Do n't come out until I call you . '' She obeyed ; and the convict , himself , rifle in hand , disappeared in the heavy underbrush .