about nine o'clock
This was the kind of man that was to be told that his daughter had suffered at the hands of men whom he had spoken with weekly for months , and who respected him only because they knew him to be no coward , and a convict like themselves . Our walk across the prairie was slow and laborious . We were compelled to govern our pace with that of the woman , and as she was half-dead with grief , and insensible to our words of encouragement , we concluded to let her cry without hindrance on our part , and only hoped that our wagon might escape pillage during our long absence . It was about nine o'clock when we reached the place where we were camped the night before . The wagon remained where we had left it ; but it needed no tongue to tell that it had been visited , while we were away , and that a portion of the load was removed . Boxes of goods were overturned , and tops wrenched off , bales were cut open , and their contents scattered upon the ground ; and , upon a near examination , we found that the impudent robbers had used our dishes to feast from , and that there were still smoking brands upon the fire where they had boiled their coffee , as though they knew we should be absent all night , and had plenty of time to enjoy themselves before our return . For a few minutes , after Smith had seen the havoc which the bushrangers had made with his cargo , he seemed to need as much comforting as the unfortunate female under his charge .