two o’clock
Oh , when will this barrier between the sexes be removed ! ' ` I trust not in your lifetime , ' shuddered Polly , ` or we might as well begin to `` stand round our dying beds '' at once . ' ` Away , away , from men and towns , To the wild wood and the downs , To the silent wilderness . ' WHATEVER the distance was in reality , the steamer had consumed more time than usual , and it was quite two o'clock , instead of half-past twelve , as they had expected , before they were landed on the old and almost forgotten pier , and saw the smoke of the Orizaba as she steamed away . After counting over their bags and packages to see if anything had been forgotten , they looked about them . -LSB- Picture : Coach of people being drawn by horses -RSB- There was a dirty little settlement , a mile or two to the south , consisting of a collection of tumble-down adobe houses which looked like a blotch on the brown hillside ; a few cattle were browsing near by , and the locality seemed to be well supplied with lizards , which darted over the dusty ground in all directions . But the startling point of the landscape was that it showed no sign of human life , and Pancho 's orders had been to have Señor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario Noriega and his wood-cart on hand promptly at half-past twelve .