nine o'clock
Aunt Candace had hot coffee and biscuit and maple syrup from old Vermont , with ham and eggs , all ready for me . The blessed comfort of a home , safe from harm once more , filled me with a sense of rest . Not until it was lifted did I realize how heavy was the burden I had carried through those May nights and days . Long before nine o'clock , the tavern yard was full of excited people , all eagerly talking of the events of the last few hours . We had hardly taken our bearings yet , but we had an assurance that the perils of the night no longer threatened us . The strange men who had filled the town the evening before had all disappeared , but in the company here were many whom we knew to be enemies in the dark . Yet they mingled boldly with the others , assuming a loyalty for their own purposes .