about three o'clock
`` Ought I to see Colonel Travis ? '' asked Ned , as they were on the way . `` No , he asked me to see to it , 'cause there ai n't no time to waste . It 's about three o'clock in the mornin ' now , an ' you 've got to slip through in two or three hours , 'cause the light will be showin ' then . Now , Ned , up with you an ' over . '' Ned climbed to the summit of the wall . Beyond lay heavy darkness , and he neither saw nor heard any human being .