nearly nine o'clock in the morning
`` We wo n't be disappointed if we find that we have n't made such a big move , after all . '' The three high school boys had halted in the shade of some trees by the highway . A quarter of a mile away , around the head of the body of water known as the third lake , stood a handsome hotel , the St. Clair Lake House . It was now nearly nine o'clock in the morning . Dick and his two comrades had been on the way , over the rough road , propelling the heavily laden push cart , from which water now dripped from melting ice . The boys had built their ice-house , or ice-box , whichever one preferred to call it , and they had stocked it with ice from the cave . Dick , Dave and Greg had whipped up and down the stream in turn ; Tom and Dan had trolled the lake for bass .