three in the afternoon
Five or six of the young men were evidently eager to be chosen ; but none disputed his choice . Rome , which reaches everywhere , reigned in the forest here ; its old law of family unquestioned and absolute . The two youths swung off to pack and provision the canoe . An hour later they reported that all was ready ; and by three in the afternoon the voyagers were on their way up-stream . The voyage lasted four days and was seldom laborious ; for the river ran in long loops through the table-land , and with an easy current . But here and there shallow runs of rock made stairways for it from one level to another , and each of these miniature rapids compelled a portage ; so that towards the end of the second day the young men had each a red shoulder spot chafed by the canoe 's weight . They camped by night close beside the murmuring water , ate their supper beside a fire of boughs , slept on piled leaves beneath a tent of canvas stretched over a long ridge-pole .