about four in the afternoon
I reckon I 'll dig out right away . If you boys , '' turning to us , `` can spare the time and the buckboard you can help me a good bit by carrying up my things for me . '' `` All right , Tom , '' said I. `` We can do so . '' Starting at once , therefore , with a load of provisions , tools and bedding , we carried them up the mountain as far as we could on wheels , and then packed them the rest of the way on horseback , when , having seen Tom comfortably established in camp near the Big Reuben -- with the look of which he expressed himself as immensely pleased -- Joe and I turned homeward again about four in the afternoon . We were driving along , skirting the rim of our cañon , and were passing between the stream and the little treeless `` bubble '' upon which Joe had , as he believed , seen Long John standing the day before , when my companion remarked : `` I should very much like to know , Phil , what Long John was doing up there . Do you suppose -- Whoa ! Whoa , there , Josephus !