about five
o’clock
A blind monster he seemed , searching with troubled arms among the islands for his bed , swept onward by an inexorable force , and on his heaving shoulders he carried great trees pilfered from the unknown forests of the North . Down in the moist and shady bottom we came upon the log hut of a half-breed trapper , and he agreed to ferry us across . As for our horses , a keel boat must be sent after these , and Monsieur Gratiot would no doubt easily arrange for this . And so we found ourselves , about five o'clock on that Saturday evening , embarked in a wide pirogue on the current , dodging the driftwood , avoiding the eddies , and drawing near to a village set on a low bluff on the Spanish side and gleaming white among the trees . And as I looked , the thought came again like a twinge of pain that Mrs. Temple and Riddle might be there , thinking themselves secure in this spot , so removed from the world and its doings . `` How now , my man of mysterious affairs ? '' cried Nick , from the bottom of the boat ; `` you are as puckered as a sour persimmon .