five o’clock in
the afternoon
Besides such volunteers as were accepted to work , only Sissy and Rachael were at first permitted within this ring ; but , later in the day , when the message brought an express from Coketown , Mr. Gradgrind and Louisa , and Mr. Bounderby , and the whelp , were also there . The sun was four hours lower than when Sissy and Rachael had first sat down upon the grass , before a means of enabling two men to descend securely was rigged with poles and ropes . Difficulties had arisen in the construction of this machine , simple as it was ; requisites had been found wanting , and messages had had to go and return . It was five o'clock in the afternoon of the bright autumnal Sunday , before a candle was sent down to try the air , while three or four rough faces stood crowded close together , attentively watching it : the man at the windlass lowering as they were told . The candle was brought up again , feebly burning , and then some water was cast in . Then the bucket was hooked on ; and the sobered man and another got in with lights , giving the word ` Lower away ! ' As the rope went out , tight and strained , and the windlass creaked , there was not a breath among the one or two hundred men and women looking on , that came as it was wont to come .