nine o’clock
` How can you tell when they will arrive ? ' asked Mrs. Winship . ` I can make a pretty good guess . They 'll probably start from Tacitas as early as eight or nine o'clock , if Elsie is well . Let 's see : it 's about twenty-five miles , is n't it , Uncle Doc ? Say twenty-three to the place where they turn off the main road . Well , I 'll take a bit of lunch , ride out ten or twelve miles , hitch my horse in the shade , and wait . '