about six in the afternoon
Only one thing we lacked -- mass and Sunday prayers . But on that day the flatboat remained moored , we put on our Sunday clothes , gathered on deck , and papa read the mass aloud surrounded by our whole party , kneeling ; and in the parts where the choir is heard in church , Alix , my sister , and I , seconded by papa and Mario , sang hymns . One evening -- we had already been five weeks on our journey -- the flatboat was floating slowly along , as if it were tired of going , between the narrow banks of a bayou marked in red ink on Carlo 's map , `` Bayou Sorrel . '' It was about six in the afternoon . There had been a suffocating heat all day . It was with joy that we came up on deck . My father , as he made his appearance , showed us his flute .