about four o'clock
The dank , dripping trees and the misty hills seemed to muffle and deaden the world . I could not believe that they ever would end ; that anywhere there was a clear sky and open country . And I had always the feeling that in those banks of vapour lurked deadly enemies who any moment might steal out and encompass us . But about four o'clock the weather lightened , and from the cock 's - comb on which we moved we looked down into the lower glens . I saw that we had left the main flanks of the range behind us , and were now fairly on a cape which jutted out beyond the other ridges . It behoved us now to go warily , and where the thickets grew thin we moved like hunters , in every hollow and crack that could shelter a man . Ringan led , and led well , for he had not stalked the red deer on the braes of Breadalbane for nothing .