Four o'clock
If he 'd been a little older , I 'd have bet he was in league with some road-agents to watch the coach . Just my luck to have him light out as I was beginning to get some talk out of him . '' He paused , looked at his watch , and straightened himself in his stirrups . `` Four o'clock . I reckon I might as well try the woods and what that imp calls the ` bresh ; ' I may strike a shanty or a native by the way . '' With this determination , Mr. Hamlin urged his horse along the faint trail by the brink of the watercourse which the boy had just indicated . He had no definite end in view beyond the one that had brought him the day before to that locality -- his quest of the unknown poetess .