half past four
Still I was encouraged by seeing that everything was conducted like clock-work . From literally a hundred stations they were distributing the books . We formed ourselves into queues as we pleased , drew our numbers , and then presented ourselves at the bureaux , ordered our magazines , and took our cyclopædias . It would be done , at that rate , by half past four . An omnibus might bring me to the Park , and a Bowery car do the rest in time . After a vain discussion for the right of exit with one or two of the attendants , I abandoned myself to this hope , and began studying my cyclopædia . It was sufficiently amusing to see ten thousand people resign themselves to the same task , and affect to be unconcerned about the green and red figures which were to divide the `` profits . ''