four o'clock in the afternoon
He bought a ready-made suit of blue cloth , not unlike that worn by the district telegraph boys of to-day , which he judged would look more suitable than his ordinary attire for the character he was about to assume of a traveling peddler . He bought a through ticket to the railroad point nearest Jackson , and then , bidding good-bye to Mr. Percival and his family , started on his trip . Little Freddie made strenuous opposition to parting with his favorite , but Frank promised to bring him home a present , and this diverted the little fellow 's thoughts . It was four o'clock in the afternoon when Frank Courtney left the cars and set foot on the platform before the station at Prescott , five miles distant from the town of Jackson , in Southern Minnesota . He looked about him , but could see no village . Prescott was a stopping place for the cars , but there was no settlement of any account there , as he afterward found . He had supposed he would find a stage in waiting to convey him to Jackson , but it was clear that the business was not large enough to warrant such a conveyance .