eight
o'clock
There was nothing for me to do but to wait for the return of the landlord of Central Hotel ; and for very nearly an hour I walked up and down the main street of that wretched little hamlet , the name of which I neither heard nor asked , cursing my own stupidity and the incapacity of the waterside rustic . When the `` boss '' arrived he was willing to let me have his mare and his buckboard , and a boy to drive me ; but the animal must be fed first , and of course I would not start off without my breakfast . As I had to wait , and the morning meal was almost ready , I partook of it ; but the mare gave a great deal more time to her breakfast than I gave to mine . I hurried the preparations as much as I could , and shortly after eight o'clock we started . My little expedition had the features of a useless piece of trouble , but I had carefully considered the affair , and concluded that I had a good chance of success . Almost any horse could take me eight miles in an hour and a half , even with poor roads , and , from what I knew of the industrial methods of this part of the country , I did not believe that the necessary supplies would be put on the yacht before half past nine : therefore , I did not allow myself to doubt that I should reach Sanpritchit in time to see Mrs. Raynor . The mare was a very deliberate traveler , and the boy who sat beside me was an easily satisfied driver .