three o'clock in the
afternoon
All the gullies were climbed by expert mountaineers , but this needed a party and a rope , and the other way , round the shoulder of the great rock , was almost as hard . Festing knew the easiest plan was to descend a neighboring hollow , from which he would find a steep path to the top . Lighting his pipe , he glanced at his watch . It was three o'clock in the afternoon , and having been on his feet since breakfast , he felt tired . The nails he had had driven into his light American boots hurt his feet , and the boots were much the worse for the last few days ' wear . Muriel had carefully planned the trip , and then delayed his start by a week because she wanted to take him to a tennis party . Since he could not play tennis much , Festing did not see why she had done so , but agreed when she insisted .