three o'clock in the afternoon
He was up and had a fire built an hour before dawn , and with the first gray streaking of day was on the trail again . He made no further effort to follow signs of the pursued , for that was a hopeless task . But he knew how McKay was heading , and he traveled swiftly , figuring to cover twice the distance that Nada might travel in the same given time . It was three o'clock in the afternoon when he came to a great ridge , and on its highest pinnacle he stopped . Peter had grown restless again , and a little more suspicious of Breault . He was not afraid of him , but all that day he had found no scent of Nada or Jolly Roger , and slowly the conviction was impinging itself upon him that he should seek for himself in the wilderness . Breault saw this restlessness , and understood it .