nine o'clock
`` Hooray ! I wish 't was a yacht race , though . Would n't I go along ? '' By nine o'clock the four canoes were fully equipped , drawn up in line off the cabin , and the canoeists , paddles in hand , arms bared , and sweaters tied around the thwarts , were ready to start . Jim and John Ellison were there , a sturdy pair of farm lads ; Jack Harvey , apparently much over-matching his mate in physique , but with something in the slighter figure of Henry Burns that indicated resource and staying powers ; Tom and Bob , old and hardened canoeists ; and George and Arthur Warren , clean-cut and athletic . `` Ready for the horn ! '' called Harvey , holding his paddle in his right hand and a long , tin horn in the other .