twelve o’clock
We will see if we can find a perfectly straight stick , ten or twelve feet long . If I fix that upright in sand the shadow would help us . It was the 25th of March yesterday , and the sun at noon would therefore be exactly overhead of the line at twelve o'clock . Therefore , if we have been blown north , we should get a very short shadow to the south at twelve o'clock ; whereas if we have been blown south , there would be a shadow north . It might not be more than an inch long ; but even that would tell us something . '' They selected a long straight stick , drove it deeply into the sand , walked round it several times so as to assure themselves that it was perfectly upright , and then returned again to the shelter of the trees . An hour later the sound of a gun came to their ears .