about one o’clock
The sun was shining brilliantly into his chamber , when he awoke , and the morning was far advanced . The gloom which had oppressed him on the previous night had disappeared with the dark shadows which shrouded the landscape , and his thoughts and feelings were as light and gay as the morning itself . After a hearty breakfast , the four gentlemen sallied forth to walk to Gravesend , followed by a man bearing the stone in its deal box . They reached the town about one o'clock -LRB- their luggage they had directed to be forwarded to the city , from Rochester -RRB- , and being fortunate enough to secure places on the outside of a coach , arrived in London in sound health and spirits , on that same afternoon . The next three or four days were occupied with the preparations which were necessary for their journey to the borough of Eatanswill . As any references to that most important undertaking demands a separate chapter , we may devote the few lines which remain at the close of this , to narrate , with great brevity , the history of the antiquarian discovery . It appears from the Transactions of the Club , then , that Mr. Pickwick lectured upon the discovery at a General Club Meeting , convened on the night succeeding their return , and entered into a variety of ingenious and erudite speculations on the meaning of the inscription .