eleven o'clock
`` I do n't believe it , '' declared the girl . `` They 're too good sportsmen to bear grudges . '' `` All the same , '' persisted Uncle John , `` the English have never favored us as the French have , or even the Russians . '' From Dunkirk to Ostend , by the coast line , is only some twenty-five miles , yet although they started at a little after eleven o'clock it was three in the afternoon before they finally landed at the Belgian seaport . Interruptions were numerous , and although they were treated courteously , in the main , it was only after rigid questioning and a thorough examination that they were permitted to proceed . A full hour was consumed at the harbor at Ostend before they could even land . As they stepped upon the wharf a group of German soldiers met them and now Captain Carg became the spokesman of the party .