half past four o'clock
And first of all , by the unwritten law of custom , the seniors were to spend an hour communing with nature . This constituted the `` Ramble . '' Judy had been delegated by the Ramble Committee to blow a blast on her trumpet when the time came to eat . In the meantime the drivers had taken themselves and their wagons down the road two miles to a small village where they were to rest and refresh themselves with food until half past four o'clock , when they were to return for the rambling seniors . So it was that the three hampers of food were deposited in a safe and secluded spot under some bushes and left unguarded while everybody went off for the ramble . Of course all this had been planned weeks ahead of time by the committee and the destination kept a profound secret , according to the traditions of the school . Scarcely had the last unsuspecting senior disappeared in the pine woods , when a motor car rounded the curve in the road and stopped at the signal of an individual in a long dark ulster and a slouch hat well down over the face , who had leaped out from behind a clump of bushes on the other side of the road .