nine
o'clock before
`` I felt like crying , to think my brother had fought , and I not there to set him up . But I swore , and said , ` I wish Jim Perry had killed un ; ' and then I sneaked off home to bed , and cried like a lass . `` And next morning I was up before him , and down the pit . He worked a good piece from me , so I did not see him , and it came on nigh nine o'clock before I began to wonder why the viewer had not been round , for I had heard say there was a foul place cut into by some of them , and at such times the viewer generally looks into every corner . `` Well , about nine , the viewer and underviewer came up with the overman , and stood talking alongside of me , when there came a something sudden and sharp , as tho ' one had boxed your ears , and then a ` whiz , whiz , ' and the viewer stumbled a one side , and cried out , ` God save us ! ' `` I hardly knew what had happened till I heard him singing out clear and firm , ` Come here to me , you lads ; come here . Keep steady , and we 'll be all right yet . '