seven o'clock
shouted Bob . `` Then New Castle will be your home port , and I 'll see you after every voyage ! '' The three comrades chatted of their prospects a while and shortly went to bed . The boys and their luggage were on their way to Wilmington in the family chaise before dawn , and it was scarce seven o'clock when they bade farewell to the old colored serving-man and clambered aboard the four-horse coach that connected in Philadelphia with the mail coach for New York . The coaches of that day were cumbersome affairs , huge of wheel , and with ridiculously small bodies slung on wide strips of bull 's hide which served for springs . The driver 's box was high above the forward running gear . There were as yet no `` seats on top , '' such as were developed in the later days of fast stage-coach service .