twelve o'clock
I laughed so heartily at the explanation , that even my friend suffered his grim visage to relax a little . `` You may smile , '' he said , `` but it 's just as I tell you . '' I saw that he was in earnest , so let the matter drop -- but the conversation was afterwards renewed and discussed in all its lights and bearings , but still without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion . It was near twelve o'clock when we reached the river , which was about three feet deep and forty wide . After hunting for some time we discovered the ford , and crossed without difficulty . We found ourselves in an immense grazing district , where ten thousand sheep could have been pastured without trouble or fear of their suffering for food . The difficulty which we then experienced was to find the right path that was to lead us to the salt lick , but even that was overcome at length , and we galloped along the trail which we supposed that Bill meant , with bright anticipations of a successful termination of our mission .