Three o'clock
We were all Elijah Coe 's that day , and it was only afterwards it came over us how different we had acted from our proper selves . Well , as I said , it was drawing toward six bells , and we were keyed up tremendous , as we might expect to see the result of our work now any minute ; and it was a shuddering thing to think of sending up another , and him a child . We all watched Coe out of the corner of our eye as he went on smoking his cigar , and every time he took out his watch and looked at it it seemed like my heart stopped beating . `` Three o'clock , boys ! '' he says , rising business-like from his chair , while Lum looked up expectant , and my gizzard seemed to shrink inside me . `` Three o'clock , boys ! '' He had n't no more nor got the words out of his mouth when Rau ripped out there was a canoe coming off , and we all ran pellmell for the rail .