three o'clock
`` The oracle is coming true , '' dryly remarked Ham . `` It always does , if it 's interpreted properly . Fat , the swine of carelessness have consumed your living . '' By three o'clock the party reached Cather Springs , which was nothing but the home of an old mountaineer -- a quaint little log cabin , a barn , and a corral , in which stood two very patient , tired-looking donkeys and a large , raw-boned mountain horse . A little to one side of the cabin stood the spring house -- a low , rustic affair , built of young trees . A slab-door stood slightly ajar , and through the opening there came the voice of a woman , softly singing to herself . A thin column of gray smoke was curling gently from the rough stone chimney .