three in the afternoon
The larger body should work back to the Four Corners , and by proper relays keep that trunk line of road open , if they could ; while six yoke , with their owners , still pressing forward to the station , should make a new base at Lovejoy 's , where , when these oxen gave out , they could be put up at his barn . It was quite clear , indeed , to the experts that that time was not far distant . And so , indeed , it proved . By three in the afternoon , John and Reuben and the other leaders of the advance party -- namely , the whole of it , for such is the custom of New England -- gathered around the fire at Lovejoy 's , conscious that after twelve hours of such battle as Pavia never saw , nor Roncesvalles , they were defeated at every point but one . Before them the mile of road which they had made in the steady work of hours was drifted in again as smooth as the surrounding pastures , only if possible a little more treacherous for the labor which they had thrown away upon it . The oxen which had worked kindly and patiently , well handled by good-tempered men , yet all confused and half dead with exposure , could do no more . Well , indeed , if those that had been stalled fast , and had had to stand in that biting wind after gigantic effort , escaped with their lives from such exposure .