four o'clock
Not more than twenty persons came to it -- mostly prosperous farmers or lumbermen , who intended to buy the place as a speculation if it should go at a low price . The old Squire was not there ; he had gone to Portland the day before ; but Addison went over , as he had planned , and Willis Murch and I went with him . Hilburn , the tax collector , was there , and two of the selectmen of the town , besides Cole , the auctioneer . At four o'clock Hilburn stood on the house steps , read the published notice of the sale and the court warrant for it . The town , he said , would deduct $ 114 -- the amount of unpaid taxes -- from the sum received for the farm . Otherwise the place would be sold intact to the highest bidder . The auctioneer then mounted the steps , read the Cranston warranty deed of the farm , as copied from the county records , describing the premises , lines , and corners .