four o'clock in the afternoon
`` I hope you are . I 'll put you in charge of one of the gangs at that end , if you like . '' `` I was a-goin ' to , '' responded Otto , who had never doubted that he would be chosen for the post . By four o'clock in the afternoon , work had been thoroughly organized . The pumps had got control of the water , a temporary ventilating circuit had been established in an effort to keep the mine air pure -- for the main system had been destroyed by the fall , and the mining gangs were at work , digging away the obstruction and loading with feverish haste . This was a very different matter from hewing coal , which is always laid out in regular seams and naturally divided by splitting planes . The rock from the strata above had fallen into the galleries at all angles , and was mixed up with the crushed and partly splintered timbers of the roof and sides .