about half past eleven
`` That girl in blue . Do n't any of them wear decent clothes ? '' `` The scraggy ones do , '' replied the other , speaking in a far away and contented manner . At about half past eleven Jones left the beach , tired of the glare and the bathers , and the sand digging children . He called at the book shop , and for a shilling obtained a bicycle map of the coast , and sitting on a seat outside the shop scanned it . There were three roads out of Sandbourne-on-Sea ; the London road ; a road across the cliffs to the west ; and a road across the cliffs to the east . The easterly road led to Northbourne , a sea-side town some six or seven miles away , the westerly road to Southbourne , some fifteen miles off .