four o'clock
`` You were awful good to climb so high and get my kitten , Carl . When I get big I 'll climb and get little boys ' kittens for them , '' he murmured drowsily . Before the horses were over the first hill , Emil and his cat were both fast asleep . Although it was only four o'clock , the winter day was fading . The road led southwest , toward the streak of pale , watery light that glimmered in the leaden sky . The light fell upon the two sad young faces that were turned mutely toward it : upon the eyes of the girl , who seemed to be looking with such anguished perplexity into the future ; upon the sombre eyes of the boy , who seemed already to be looking into the past . The little town behind them had vanished as if it had never been , had fallen behind the swell of the prairie , and the stern frozen country received them into its bosom .