about half past nine
I had n't seen anything , -- except that they were working over some boxes on the platform beneath the wharf . They had both acted like boys caught in the jam closet . I sat on the front porch , and thought it over , and read , and then thought it over again , until the smoke of the steamboat was in sight . This must have been about half past nine . The Professor and Mr. Snider had been out in the barn most of the time , or bringing chairs and putting them up on the platform in the side yard . When the smoke of the steamboat appeared they both came around to the front of the house . The Professor shook hands with me , and said goodbye .