nine o'clock
`` Gracious , yes ! Gone ! He 's been in town nearly all night . He was out somewhere last evening , looking up cattle , he said , and he did n't get in till almost nine o'clock ; then he ate supper and started right off . I thought it was a rather dark time to be starting for town , but he said the moon would be rising before he got out on to the plains , and he did n't care for the dark . '' `` Why was he so anxious to get to town early this morning ? '' I asked , with what I inwardly felt to be almost insolent persistency .