nine o'clock
I 'll -- I 'll let you know what I decide to do . I ai n't settled it myself yet . Good-by , Barzilla . '' The following morning , at nine o'clock , Issy McKay sat upon the heap of rusty chain cable outside the blacksmith 's shop at Denboro , reading , as usual , a love story . Issy was taking a `` day off . '' He had begged permission of Captain Sol Berry , the permission had been granted , and Issy had come over to Denboro , the village eight miles above East Harniss , in his `` power dory , '' or gasoline boat , the Lady May . The Lady May was a relic of the time before Issy was assistant depot master , when he gained a precarious living by quahauging , separating the reluctant bivalve from its muddy house on the bay bottom with an iron rake , the handle of which was forty feet long .