nine o'clock
`` In the summer time there are lots of bog holes , an ' it ai n't none too safe in the winter time . '' As Jack Dalton was going on to Fairview with Jed Sanborn , it was decided by the boys to send the buck and one of the other deer home , which would be easy , with two men to draw the load . All spent a comfortable night in camp , nothing coming to disturb them . Breakfast was a substantial one , and by nine o'clock Jed and Dalton set off with their load , the old hunter also carrying various letters for the folks at home . The boys went out on the lake to see them off , and gave them a rousing cheer on parting . `` Tell everybody we are having the time of our lives , '' shouted Snap after the pair . There was more snow in the air , and the young hunters spent the remainder of that day in camp , cleaning the game they had brought in and also their firearms , and mending a couple of snowshoes that had become a little broken .