four in
the afternoon
It was worked by means of a wheel , nine feet in diameter , with steps in its circumference like those of a treadmill , and so weighted that by walking upon it , as if up a flight of stairs , a person of eleven or twelve stone would draw up a bucket -- two buckets being so hung , at the ends of a rope surrounding the wheel , that while one ascended , full of water , the other , which was empty , sank down and was refilled . These buckets being too heavy for a man to overturn to pour out the water , he bored a hole in each , and contrived to plug the holes so that the weight of the bucket as it bumped upon the trough prepared for it at the well 's edge jogged out the plug and sent the water running down the trough into whatever pail or vessel stood ready to catch it . Nor is it astonishing that he lost his temper when , after these preparations , he found the well was not deep enough , and the water as much infected with brine as if he had gathered it from the surface of the marsh . It was on the day following this disappointment that , while walking to and fro the length of his turfed garden , between three and four in the afternoon -LRB- for his habits were methodical -RRB- , he heard a child 's voice lifted on the far side of the party hedge : `` Dad ! '' `` Eh ? What is it ? '' answered the voice of Captain Barker , from his new tulip-bed , across the garden .