three o'clock
`` Well , jest let him come on . We can tend ter him hyar , ef necessary . '' So , Jim withheld his hand , and merely shadowed , sending bulletins , from time to time . It was three o'clock when Samson started . It was near six when he reached the ribbon of road that loops down into town over the mountain . His mule was in a lather of sweat . He knew that he was being spied upon , and that word of his coming was traveling ahead of him .