three in the morning
During the evening Dan worked hard at a message which he was to leave for his parents , feeling obliged to take every precaution lest they should see what he was about ; and after the most painful efforts he succeeded in printing this note : CRIP & ME HAVE GORNE TO UNKLE ROBERTS TO GET HIM TO COME UP HERE TO KOAX YOU NOT TO Dan had six cents , which he had earned carrying milk , and his preparations for the journey consisted simply in putting these in his pocket , together with some corn for Crippy , and in placing the little clock and some matches by the side of his bed , so that he might be able to tell when the proper time had come for him to start . Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Hardy were surprised by Dan 's unusually affectionate manner when he ' bade them good-night ; but , if they were , nothing was said about it , and the inmates of the Hardy farmhouse retired on the night before the proposed execution of poor Crippy at the usual early hour of nine o'clock . Dan 's idea was to lie awake until three in the morning , then steal cautiously out of the house , get Crippy , and start . But it was much harder work to remain awake than he had fancied , and before he had been in bed an hour he was sleeping soundly . But even though his eyes persisted in closing despite his will , Dan did not sleep very long at a time . He was awake at least every half hour and his small stock of matches was exhausted as early as two o'clock .