four o'clock
`` That 's just the kind of story that Dick Prescott never could be depended upon to bring in here -- if he was the central character in it , '' observed the editor quietly . Despite the failure of Dick to bring in this particular story , however , the `` Blade , '' the next morning , printed more than a column from the data furnished by Mr. Luce . Dick , however , did n't hear of it -- in Gridley . It was Harry Hazelton , who , at four o'clock , mounted a horse he had hired for the trip and rode over to Tottenville , where the camp wagon was obtained from Mr. Newbegin Titmouse . Hazelton wasted no time on the road , but drove as fast as the horse could comfortably travel . It was but a few minutes after six o'clock , that August morning , when Dick Prescott and his five chums , collectively famous as Dick & Co. , drove out of Gridley . Harry Hazelton was now the driver , the other five high school boys walking briskly just ahead of the wagon .