about midday
Weak as he was , he several times nearly lost his hold on the reeds . The clumsy bundle presenting too great a broadside to the stream , whirled round and round , and was once or twice nearly sucked under . At length , however , breathless and exhausted , he gained the opposite bank , half a mile below the point he had attempted to make , and carrying his floats out of reach of the tide , made off across the hill to the Pilot Station . Arrived there about midday , he set to work to lay his snares . The goats , with whose hides he hoped to cover the coracle , were sufficiently numerous and tame to encourage him to use every exertion . He carefully examined the tracks of the animals , and found that they converged to one point -- the track to the nearest water . With much labour he cut down bushes , so as to mask the approach to the waterhole on all sides save where these tracks immediately conjoined .