eight o'clock
` Pears ter me toler ` ble early fur the moon , '' observed one of the men . `` She 's on the wane now , too . '' '' ` Tai n't early , though , '' replied the sullen bass voice of Silas Boyd from the darkness ; it was lowered , that the others might not hear . `` That thar old perverted Philistine of a Persimmon Sneed kep ' us danderin ' roun ' hyar till mighty nigh eight o'clock , I 'll bet , a-persistin ' an ' a-persistin ' he knowed the road , when he war plumb lost time we got on that cowpath . An ' the jury o ' view , they hed ter take Persimmon Sneed 's advice , he bein ' the oldest , an ' wait _ hyar _ fur the risin ' moon . Persimmon Sneed will repent he picked out this spot , -- he 'll repent it sure ! '' This dictum was only the redundancy of discontent ; but when , in the light of subsequent events , it was remembered , and special gifts of discernment were attributed to Silas Boyd , he did not disclaim them , for he felt that his words were surely inspired by some presentiment , so apt were they , and so swiftly did the fulfillment follow the prophecy .