ten o'clock
`` There was a negro in the party who had been a chef in a Chicago hotel ; and he was the one soul in the crowd that treated me half decently . '' `` Perhaps uncle will retain you as cook , '' said Randy , mischievously , and then he stopped short , for he did not wish to hurt Fred 's feelings . The supper passed off pleasantly , and Fred announced that he felt a hundred times better than the day previous . It was around ten o'clock , and the sun had just set over the mountains to the westward , leaving the Hollow in an uncertain , pale-blue light , which would last until sunrise at four , when a messenger on mule-back dashed along the trail from Gold Bottom . `` Thar 's a lynchin ' goin ' on down to Smedley 's ! '' he yelled , as he sped by . `` They 've caught a sneak thief by the name o ' Guardley , an ' they 're goin ' ter make him do er dance on nuthin ' .