about noon
My own arrangements were more easily completed , a friend properly possessed of sufficient real estate to make good his bond being in readiness for any emergency . One o'clock came , then three , then five ; the colonelall the time keeping to the seclusion of his private office , Fitz watching for Klutchem , and I waiting in the larger office for the arrival of one of those clean-shaven , thick-set young men , in a Derby hat and sack-coat , the unexpected pair of handcuffs in his outside pocket . The morning of the second day the situation remained still unchanged ; Fitz had been unable to find Klutchem either at his office or at his lodgings , the colonel was still without any reply from his antagonist , and no young man answering to my fears had put in any appearance whatever . The only new features were a telegram from Tom Yancey to the effect that he and Judge Kerfoot would arrive about noon , and another from the judge himself begging a postponement until they could reach the field . Fitz read both dispatches in a corner by himself , with a face expressive of the effect these combined troubles were making upon his otherwise happy countenance . He then crumpled them up in his hand and slid them into his pocket . Up to this time not a soul in the office except the colonel , Fitz , and I had the faintest hint of the impending tragedy , it being one of the colonel 's maxims that all affairs of honor demanded absolute silence .