About four o'clock in the morning
Before the `` saloon '' had topped the other bank , they jumped out and ran into the alder bushes that bordered the stream . Their captor was evidently not aware of their escape , for the `` saloon '' kept on its course . As soon as it was out of sight the girls waded the brook and , hastening back to the fork of the road , took the homeward trail . About four o'clock in the morning grandmother Ruth heard them knocking at the door . They were still much excited , and told so wild and curious a story of their adventure that after breakfast the old Squire and Addison drove over to Lurvey 's Mills to investigate . Almost the first thing they saw when they reached the Mills was that old `` daguerreotype saloon , '' standing beside the road near the post office , and pottering about it a large , ungainly man -- a hunchback with club feet . A few minutes ' conversation with him cleared up the mystery .