eight
o’clock
`` It may seem very strange to you , Mr. Ritchie , but we believe that Sunday was made to enjoy . They will have time to attend the ball before you send them down the river ? '' she added mischievously , turning to her husband . `` Certainly , '' said he , `` the loading will not be finished before eight o'clock . '' Presently Madame Gratiot went off to Mass , while I walked with Monsieur Gratiot to a storehouse near the river 's bank , whence the skins , neatly packed and numbered , were being carried to the boats on the sweating shoulders of the negroes , the half-breeds , and the Canadian boatmen , -- bulky bales of yellow elk , from the upper plains of the Missouri , of buffalo and deer and bear , and priceless little packages of the otter and the beaver trapped in the green shade of the endless Northern forests , and brought hither in pirogues down the swift river by the red tribesmen and Canadian adventurers . Afterwards I strolled about the silent village . Even the cabarets were deserted .