eight o’clock in the morning
`` Two genera , '' our scholarly Conseil hastened to say , `` that belong to the family Pinnipedia , order Carnivora , group Unguiculata , subclass Monodelphia , class Mammalia , branch Vertebrata . '' `` Very nice , Conseil , '' I replied , `` but these two genera of seals and walruses are each divided into species , and if I 'm not mistaken , we now have a chance to actually look at them . Let 's . '' It was eight o'clock in the morning . We had four hours to ourselves before the sun could be productively observed . I guided our steps toward a huge bay that made a crescent-shaped incision in the granite cliffs along the beach . There , all about us , I swear that the shores and ice floes were crowded with marine mammals as far as the eye could see , and I involuntarily looked around for old Proteus , that mythological shepherd who guarded King Neptune 's immense flocks .