eight o'clock
Several times during the five years after leaving Lem 's scow she walked to Tarrytown , returning only when she had seen the little boy , to take up her squatter life in her father 's hut . So secretive was she that no one had been taken into her confidence ; neither had she interfered with her child in any way . Never once , hitherto , had her senses left her on those long country marches toward the east ; but often when she turned backward she would utter forlorn cries , characteristic of her malady . * * * * * At eight o'clock , four hours before Lon Cronk opened his heart to his companions , Scraggy , footsore and weary , entered Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and seated herself on the damp earth to gather strength . By begging and stealing she had managed to reach her destination ; but now for the first time on this journey the bats were in her head , sounding the walls of her poor brain with the ceaseless clatter of their wings . Still the mother heart called for its own , through the madness -- called for one sight of Lem 's child and hers . At length after a long rest she turned into a broad path which she knew well , and did not halt until she was staring eager-eyed into the window of Harold Brimbecomb 's house which stood close to the cemetery .