about ten o'clock
You observed , of course , that I was very attentive to the man your negro had whipped . '' He was still laughing , and I could not imagine for the life of me why he was tickled . We rode along without adventure of any kind , though I momentarily expected to hear the tramp of Forrest 's outriders behind us . They never came , and about ten o'clock -- my stomach was my clock in this instance , for I had had no breakfast -- we suddenly turned off from the main road and plunged into the shadows of the finest wood I had ever seen . There were giant chestnuts , giant poplars , giant oaks , and giant pines . They were so large that human beings seemed small and insignificant beside them , and I realized that we were in the primeval forest . The thought , however , did not satisfy my hunger , and I wondered when and where a halt was to be called and rations parcelled out .