about three o'clock
All was very silent , except for the barking of a dog now and again . It was a very solitary place -- the very place for a murder ; there were no meadows near us , where men might be working , but only the deep woods . It was a clearish kind of day , with clouds in the west . At about three o'clock then I went to the stables to see my horse . These were behind the house . There was no one about , and no other horse in the stables but Rumbald 's own black mare that had carried him yesterday . It came to me as I looked at my horse that no harm would be done if I put the saddle on him .