midnight
But somewhere there was an unconquerable tenacity that held fast , and in the teeth of the wind the long box grew rigid , as the trusses were pounded into place by men so spent with fatigue that one might say it was sheer good will that drove the hammers . At four o'clock Christmas afternoon the last bolt was drawn taut . The gallery was done . Bannon had been on the work since midnight -- sixteen consecutive hours . He had eaten nothing except two sandwiches that he had stowed in his pockets . His only pause had been about nine o'clock that morning when he had put his head in the office door to wish Hilda a Merry Christmas . When the evening shift came on -- that was just after four -- one of the under-foremen tried to get him to talking , but Bannon was too tired to talk .