twelve
o'clock
So Jo , Juarez and Jim were securely fastened on the patient mule , while Tom rode behind the mate upon his own horse , but no longer as master . Then the queer procession started up the trail through the dense fog . The Captain was in the lead , followed by the mate with Tom , then the mule with Pete and the Mexican dwarf guarding the animal and its cargo , while the active Jack Cales was the rear guard . It was exactly twelve o'clock when they weighed anchor and sailed from the harbor or cove in the mountain canyon . The three boys said little to each other . They did not waste their breath with threats of what they would do to their captors later on , but accepted the situation with true western stoicism . But you may be sure that their minds were active even if their tongues said little .