nine o’clock in the morning
Only it had the inconvenience of necessitating the sacrifice of a piece of handkerchief . Notwithstanding , the thing was well worth while trying , and a part of Pencroft 's large checked handkerchief was soon reduced to the state of a half-burnt rag . This inflammable material was placed in the central chamber at the bottom of a little cavity in the rock , sheltered from all wind and damp . It was nine o'clock in the morning . The weather was threatening and the breeze blew from the southeast . Herbert and Pencroft turned the angle of the Chimneys , not without having cast a look at the smoke which , just at that place , curled round a point of rock : they ascended the left bank of the river . Arrived at the forest , Pencroft broke from the first tree two stout branches which he transformed into clubs , the ends of which Herbert rubbed smooth on a rock .