a quarter to eleven
Mike 's appearance in gym shoes , with the explanation that he had lost a shoe , completed the chain . As Columbus must have felt when his ship ran into harbor , and the first American interviewer , jumping on board , said , `` Wal , sir , and what are your impressions of our glorious country ? '' so did Mr. Downing feel at that moment . When the bell rang at a quarter to eleven , he gathered up his gown and sped to the headmaster . It was during the interval that day that Stone and Robinson , discussing the subject of cricket over a bun and ginger beer at the school shop , came to a momentous decision , to wit , that they were fed up with the Adair administration and meant to strike . The immediate cause of revolt was early-morning fielding practice , that searching test of cricket keenness . Mike himself , to whom cricket was the great and serious interest in life , had shirked early-morning fielding practice in his first term at Wrykyn .