six o'clock
`` Well , it 's slicked up all it could be on such short notice , '' said the skipper . `` I guess you wont have to live in it long ; the wind 's coming up pretty smart ahind us . Haul away there ! -- '' It was past six o'clock , and the August sun had much lessened of its heat , when , as once before with Mr. Landholm for a passenger , the Julia Ann stood out into the middle of the river with her head set for the North . Mrs. Nettley and Clam hid themselves straightway in the precincts of the cabin . Elizabeth stood still where she had first placed herself on the deck , in a cold abstracted sort of carelessness , conscious only that her protector was standing by her side , and that she was not willing to lose sight of him . The vessel , and her crew , and their work before her very eyes , she could hardly be said to see .