ten o'clock
There was a friendly dispute as to whether Molly and jack should see me off , or whether I should wish them good-bye before starting on my journey ; but in the end it was settled that I should be the one to leave first . Perhaps they believed that , if left to myself , I should never start at all ; perhaps they wished to add photographs of the mule-party to their Kodak collection , already large ; or perhaps they thought only how to make the parting pleasantest for me , since I had no one , and they had each other . -LSB- Illustration : `` THERE WAS A PANG WHEN I TURNED MY BACK '' . -RSB- In any case , at ten o'clock all that was left of my store was placed upon the back of Finois , who had the air of ignoring its existence , and mine as well . Had he been a horse , he would at least have deigned to exchange glances with me , friendly or otherwise ; but being what he was , he looked everywhere except at me , as if he had been some haughty aristocrat conscientiously snubbing an offensive upstart . Joseph appeared to be the one human being of more importance for Finois than the moving bough of an inedible tree , bush , or shrub , and even Molly could win him to no change of facial expression , though he ate her offered sugar . There was a pang when I turned my back irrevocably upon my friends , having waved my hand or my panama so often that to do so again would he ridiculous .