half past eleven o'clock
With a view to reaching the village in the most direct manner , he cut straight across country , skirting fields of grain and corn , it is true , but taking everything else as it came -- hills , ravines , orchards , and meadows . And all this time the boys were making one of the most foolish blunders that can well be imagined -- taking into consideration , of course , the peculiar nature of the creek and the constantly shifting scenery through which they were passing . Later on , when the consequences of their thoughtlessness stared them in the face , they wondered how they could have been so blind . When the farmhouse bells began to clang from distant points the boys knew that it was half past eleven o'clock . `` We have surely covered six miles in two hours , '' said Ned . `` West Hill ca n't be far away . No doubt we will see it from that next ridge . ''