nearly noon
`` No , '' answered Tom , `` but so long as it does n't take us into Chattanooga , I 'm satisfied . We 're going north and the river is about twenty miles ahead of us . '' `` And we 're going about one mile an hour , '' replied Shadrack , slipping in the mud . It was nearly noon when they heard the sound of horses galloping along the road toward them . They jumped into the bushes and waited breathlessly . A few seconds later , four horsemen , each of them carrying a rifle over his arm , went riding past . `` They 're after us , '' said Wilson .