ten o'clock at
night
During the next two weeks , while Flukey was fighting with death , and the great Shellington mansion was as silent as a tomb , Scraggy Peterson was tramping back to the squatter country . When she reached Ithaca , she was almost too ill to start up the Lehigh Valley tracks toward her hut . The black cat clung to her tattered jacket , his wizard-eyes shining green , as Screech Owl passed under the gas-lamps . It was almost ten o'clock at night when she unlatched her shanty door and kindled a fire . The larder was bare , save for some crusts of hard bread . These the woman soaked in hot water and shared with the cat . Then , in a state of great exhaustion , she picked up Black Pussy , blew out the candle , and , for the first time in many days , slept in her own hut .