about ten o'clock
The Titan was ready next morning , as due , and the early start was made . The great machine had run for several days without especial incident , but this morning Devlin 's nervous incompetency manifested itself in a new direction . He forgot to fill the oil-tank of the car he served as mechanician , before Corrie took it out . One of the testers drove into the busy courtyard , about ten o'clock , shouting the information that the Titan was stuck eight miles out on the back road and Rose wanted the emergency car to bring him oil . Sardonic of eye , caustic of tongue , Rupert himself attended to the carrying out of the request and watched the rescuing car depart on its mission . Half an hour later the Titan rolled past , missing fire and running with a sound like a sick gatling gun . Bare-headed and without his mask , Corrie was driving with one hand and striving to aid his mechanician 's efforts with the other , as they swept around the mile track .