eight o'clock
Ben had only made thirty cents ; but he and Johnny had always been in partnership , dividing equally the profits of both , and the same arrangement held good after Paul was taken into the concern . It was decided that Ben should give up his business of boot-blackening that afternoon , and sell papers with the others , so he carried his box to a friend who had a fancy-goods stand in the door-way of an unoccupied store , where he left it until he should finish his day 's work . Each paper that Paul sold that day had the same advertisement offering a reward for any tidings of him , but since he never looked at what his wares contained , save to read the head-lines in large letters so as to get an idea what he should cry out , it did him as little good as if it had never been there . Fortunately for the boys , as the demand for papers was so great and continued so long , Mrs. Green had set eight o'clock as the hour when they would have dinner . By this plan she would have plenty of time to cook it , and all hands would be through work and possessed of plenty of leisure for eating . Therefore they continued the trade in news until half-past seven , and then hurried for the last time to their hogshead , where they found Dickey Spry eating his supper of crackers and cheese . The process of finding out exactly how much they had made was a long and difficult one for both Ben and Johnny .