ten o'clock
Presumably Yetmore had abandoned them somewhere on the road and they had walked leisurely back . `` Well , boys , '' said Connor , `` we may as well all start together now ; but as your ponies have had a good morning 's work already , we ca n't expect to make the whole distance this evening . We 'll stop over night at Thornburg 's , twenty miles down , and go on again first thing in the morning . '' This we did , and by ten o'clock we reached home , where the first person we encountered was my father . `` Well , Tom , '' he cried , as the miner slipped down from his horse . `` So you made a strike , did you ? '' At this Tom opened his eyes pretty widely .