six in the morning
`` You need n't worry about Ol' John , '' said she . `` He 'll git lonesome an ' toddle off when the ` Colonel ' goes to bed an ' wo n't come ` round ag ` in till snow flies . That man will be just as steady as an ox all the summer an ' fall -- not a laugh out o ' him -- you see . '' `` Can you be there at six in the morning ? '' `` We 'll be there -- sure as sunrise -- an ' ready to go to work . '' They were on hand at the hour appointed , the `` Colonel '' having acquired , meanwhile , his wonted look of solemnity . Josiah , now a sturdy boy of thirteen , stood in the dooryard , holding the two saddle ponies from Nebraska which Samson had bought of a drover .