four o'clock
After a light lunch the Jolly Rovers started off again . They were anxious to get as far as possible from the whirlpool . During the early part of the afternoon they paddled and drifted by turns , for Clay was still a little weak from his experience . Between three and four o'clock a bend of the creek brought into view an old wooden bridge . The piers were mossy and crumbling to ruins , and the roof and sides had been guiltless of paint for many a long year . Just below the bridge the Creek widened to a kind of pool . At the foot of a ledge of rocks on the left shore sat three men holding long fishing poles .