about half past three
On occasions when boys in his own house and boys from other houses were accomplices and partners in wrongdoing , Mr. Downing distributed his thunderbolts unequally , and the school noticed it . The result was that not only he himself , but also -- which was rather unfair -- his house , too , had acquired a good deal of unpopularity . The general consensus of opinion in Outwood 's during the luncheon interval was that having got Downing 's up a tree , they would be fools not to make the most of the situation . Barnes 's remark that he supposed , unless anything happened and wickets began to fall a bit faster , they had better think of declaring somewhere about half past three or four , was met with a storm of opposition . `` Declare ! '' said Robinson . `` Great Scot , what on earth are you talking about ? ''