three o’clock
They ascertained , however , that eatable shellfish abounded there , but these could not be of any great advantage to them until some easy means of communication had been established between the two banks of the Mercy , and until the means of transport had been perfected . Nothing therefore which threw any light on the supposed wreck could be found on this shore , yet an object of any importance , such as the hull of a ship , would have been seen directly , or any of her masts and spars would have been washed on shore , just as the chest had been , which was found twenty miles from here . But there was nothing . Towards three o'clock Harding and his companions arrived at a snug little creek . It formed quite a natural harbor , invisible from the sea , and was entered by a narrow channel . At the back of this creek some violent convulsion had torn up the rocky border , and a cutting , by a gentle slope , gave access to an upper plateau , which might be situated at least ten miles from Claw Cape , and consequently four miles in a straight line from Prospect Heights . Gideon Spilett proposed to his companions that they should make a halt here .