midnight
It had seemed , however , that the mass of fire which had got away from them was small , and already the damp of the night was on the grass ; and Harry felt himself justified in hoping not that there might be no loss , but that the loss might not be ruinous . Medlicot consented to be taken back to Gangoil instead of to the mill . Perhaps he thought that Kate Daly might be a better nurse than his mother , or that the quiet of the sheep station might be better for him than the clatter of his own mill-wheels . It was midnight , and they had a ride of fourteen miles , which was hard enough upon a man with a broken collarbone . The whole party also was thoroughly fatigued . The work they had been doing was about as hard as could fall to a man 's lot , and they had now been many hours without food . Before they started Mickey produced his flask , the contents of which were divided equally among them all , including Jacko .