ten o'clock
The hours of tedious waiting were a little relieved by a discovery that Melton made . In some of the canoes he found a couple of rude bone fishhooks . This seemed pretty fair proof that fish existed in the underground river , and as Guy happened to have a roll of cord , three strong lines were constructed and laid away for possible future use . When , to the best of their judgments , evening was close at hand , they started back through the passage and reached the entrance shortly before ten o'clock . Darkness soon came on , and as all seemed quiet they ventured to roll back the stone and crawl out . Far across the valley a faint glow was visible against the somber sky , probably from the smoldering embers of the burned village , while directly north of the cavern , in the vicinity of the pool of water where the lions had been encountered the previous night , a number of camp fires were twinkling merrily through the scattered boulders . `` This is the camp of the Abyssinians , '' declared Canaris without hesitation .