six o'clock
`` You are n't fooling anyone , '' broke in the quick-tongued Roy , `` and I think Colonel Howell wants to see you . '' Count Zept 's laugh ended and he at once arose and followed the young men back to the stateroom . His reappearance seemed to ease his father 's mind , and when the three young men and Colonel Howell began a game of auction the incident seemed almost forgotten . At six o'clock , the superintendent of the dining car came to announce to Colonel Howell that his special table was ready , and the party went in to dinner . When this elaborate meal was concluded , an hour and a half later , the warm afternoon had cooled and the train was well into the fertile farm land that distinguishes the great agricultural regions south of Edmonton . Somewhat after ten o'clock , the long daylight not yet at an end , the journey came to a close in the city of Strathcona . They had reached the Saskatchewan River .