six o'clock
`` With an automobile you could overtake her , '' said Myra Willard . `` I know , '' returned the artist , `` but if I take a horse , we can ride back together . '' He started through the grove , toward the other house , on a run . The Mysterious Disappearance By the time Aaron King had found a saddle-horse and was ready to start on his ride , it was six o'clock . Granting that Conrad Lagrange was right in his supposition that the girl had left with the intention of going to Brian Oakley 's , the artist could scarcely , now , hope to arrive at the Ranger Station until some time after Sibyl had reached the home of her friends -- unless she should stop somewhere on the way , which he did not think likely . Once , as he realized how the minutes were slipping away , he was on the point of reconsidering his reply to Myra Willard 's suggestion that he take an automobile . Then , telling himself that he would surely find Sibyl at the Station and thinking of the return trip with her , he determined to carry out his first plan .