nine o'clock
When they went to their car both were strangely silent . `` I owe you a lot of money , '' she said with assumed carelessness . `` Which I hope you never repay , '' he returned meaningly . At nine o'clock they were threading the streets of Sacramento . At a little after ten they were in Auburn . They drove through `` Old Town , '' passed the courthouse and through the newer portion of the village ; by the Freeman Hotel and the railroad-yards , through the `` subway '' under the tracks , and turned off to the right , leaving the highway for the first time and skirting the olive-orchards on the hill . Then , sweeping around a wide curve they caught the first glimpse of the American River deep down in its historic canon .