nearly one
o'clock
Do you call yourself a mother , and not know that a mother 's first duty is to blow her boy out ? '' This touched Young Jerry on a tender place ; who adjured his mother to perform her first duty , and , whatever else she did or neglected , above all things to lay especial stress on the discharge of that maternal function so affectingly and delicately indicated by his other parent . Thus the evening wore away with the Cruncher family , until Young Jerry was ordered to bed , and his mother , laid under similar injunctions , obeyed them . Mr. Cruncher beguiled the earlier watches of the night with solitary pipes , and did not start upon his excursion until nearly one o'clock . Towards that small and ghostly hour , he rose up from his chair , took a key out of his pocket , opened a locked cupboard , and brought forth a sack , a crowbar of convenient size , a rope and chain , and other fishing tackle of that nature . Disposing these articles about him in skilful manner , he bestowed a parting defiance on Mrs. Cruncher , extinguished the light , and went out . Young Jerry , who had only made a feint of undressing when he went to bed , was not long after his father .