three
o'clock
In the meantime Mr. Reardon proceeded further to strengthen his position by closing the port entrance to the engine room and shoring up the door with a stout scantling , cleated at top and bottom to hold it securely in place . Then he donned Mr. Schultz 's heavy watchcoat , dragged round from the lee of the house the upholstered easy-chair Mrs. Reardon had insisted upon his taking to sea with him for use in his leisure moments , placed this chair on deck just outside the starboard entrance to the engine room , loaded his pipe , laid his trusty monkey wrench across his knee and gave himself up to the contemplation of this riot we call life . He resembled a cat watching beside a gopher hole . By half-past three o'clock he had finished figuring out approximately the amount of money Mrs. Reardon would have in the Hibernia Bank at the end of five years -- figuring on a monthly saving of fifty dollars and interest compounded at the rate of four per cent . So , having satisfied himself that Johnny would yet be a lawyer and the girls learn to play the piano , Mr. Reardon heaved a sigh and reluctantly went to call Michael J. Murphy for the final accounting . At ten minutes to four Mr. Uhl , the second assistant , a man of some thirty years and ordinarily possessed of a disposition as placid as that of a little Jersey heifer , ordered one of his firemen to go and call the watch to relieve them . Mr. Reardon , his monkey wrench firmly grasped in his right hand , knew that at exactly ten minutes to four Mr. Uhl would issue that order -- so he was on the spot to receive the fireman as the latter came leisurely up the greasy steel stairway .