about nine o'clock
With a quick bound he was off at a full gallop down the trail toward the river . The sun had set before they reached the open country beyond the great forest , but by seven o'clock the Boy saw from the hill top the shining mirror of the river in the calm moonlit valley . Before night he had succeeded in rousing the ferryman and reached the opposite shore . He lost the way once about nine o'clock and a settler whose light he saw in the woods called sharply from the door with his rifle in hand : `` Who are you ? '' `` I 'm just a little boy , '' the voice faltered . `` I 'm trying to find the doctor 's house . My mother 's about to die and I 'm lost .