six o'clock
`` We 'll make it all right , somehow . '' Stiff in limb , their feet twitching with the pain of blisters , Ned and Alan toiled slowly through the last of the pines and out into the rocky higher slopes of the range . It was like climbing an upright wall , Alan said , but the pain of going on was less than the despair of giving up . A little after six o'clock Ned , ahead , pulled himself breathless to the highest point . Alan stopped a little below and waited in anxiety . Before he could ask whether it was the last ridge , Ned 's voice broke out into a shout . `` Come on , old man , we 're all right .