four o'clock
Before noon he had affiliated with enough friends to make the matter of noontime lunch a simple business of accepting part of what was offered him , while Lily did the best she could on enough assorted nutriment to feed six mascots . Considering the start he had made that morning , the Wildcat realized , with his seventh sandwich , that life is n't so bad if you manage to live through it . When he began the afternoon shift his ancient philosophy had returned , and to the clatter of the activity about him he contributed his rambling voice . Presently the words of his song recruited a few converts from the gang about him ; and by four o'clock , with the freight moving faster than it had for many a day , the hollow spaces in the long pier were filled with the echoes that lifted from an intermittent chorus which proclaimed that `` I kin load a steamboat , load it full wid freight ; I kin load a steamboat when it 's leavin ' late . Dat 's de reason I ` se as happy as a bee , I do n't botheh work , an ' work do n't botheh me . '' Throughout the late hours of the afternoon the eyes of the foreman were on the Wildcat . `` Hustlin ' nigger .