about eleven o'clock
As it was I did not let my rosy anticipations of the future interfere at all with my sense of caution . As a matter of strict fact the place was much further away than I had anticipated . We must have wandered a considerable distance in the confusion of the evening 's storm and covered more ground than we had thought . I had positioned the sun as I had left the valley and judged the time to be about eleven o'clock ; `` that , '' I thought , `` will bring me back by two at the very latest . '' But really it was close on five , and the shadows were already dropping down over the country-side before I was ready to return . I found our little store of goods intact , though most of them were rain-soaked , and as a measure of good fortune I retrieved the tent whose sudden departure had been the primary cause of our hurriedly shifting camp . There was a fair load in all , but when I had made it up and rolled everything packwise in the tent and fastened it on my shoulders with what odd bits of string I found handy , there was n't anything in it that would seriously try the strength of a seasoned explorer like myself .