about ten o'clock
Here they ate and rested till the sun began to pass its meridian , when once more they started on their pilgrimage . That night , after a day wherein they had met no other sign of life than gulls and crows ravaging the mussel-beds , they slept on piles of sun-dried kelp which they heaped into some crevices under an overhanging brow of low cliffs on a rocky point . And dawn found them again , traveling steadily eastward , battle-axes swinging , hopes high , in perfect comradeship and faith . Toward what must have been about ten o'clock of that morning they reached the mouth of a river , something like half a mile wide where it joined the sea . By following this up a mile or so they reached a narrow point ; but even here , burdened as they were , swimming was out of the question . `` The only thing to do , '' said Stern , `` will be to wait till the tide backs up and gives us quiet water , then make our way across on a log or two '' -- a plan they put into effect with good success . Mid-afternoon , and they were on their way again , east-bound .