six o'clock in the morning
Forward ! '' The reporter 's proposal , so strongly seconded by the sailor , received general approbation , for each wished to have their doubts set at rest , and by returning by Claw Cape the exploration would be ended . But there was not an hour to lose , for forty miles was a long march , and they could not hope to reach Granite House before night . At six o'clock in the morning the little band set out . As a precaution the guns were loaded with ball , and Top , who led the van , received orders to beat about the edge of the forest . From the extremity of the promontory which formed the tail of the peninsula the coast was rounded for a distance of five miles , which was rapidly passed over , without even the most minute investigations bringing to light the least trace of any old or recent landings ; no _ debris _ , no mark of an encampment , no cinders of a fire , nor even a footprint ! From the point of the peninsula on which the settlers now were their gaze could extend along the south-west .