twelve o'clock
David found it out , and to save me from being swindled , he recovered the pointer and got himself into difficulty by it . '' The boys , who were merely guessing at all this , would have been surprised to know that their surmises were all correct . David and his troubles , and his manful efforts to better his condition in spite of his adverse circumstances , afforded them topics of conversation while they were at work ; and when the figure four , on which Bert was employed , was completed , the mule was harnessed to the wagon , and the boys drove off to set the half a dozen new traps they had built that morning . It was twelve o'clock when they returned , and they found lunch waiting for them . When they had done ample justice to it , they began making hasty preparations for their visit to the island , and a quarter of an hour more saw them well on their way up the bayou . They found to their great delight that the ducks were beginning to come in now , and Don was kept busy rowing from one side of the bayou to the other to pick up the dead and wounded birds that Bert brought out of the numerous flocks which took wing as they approached . After a dozen fine fat mallards had been brought to bag , Bert declared that it was a sin to shoot any more , and took his place at the oars , while Don sat in the stern and steered .