about six o'clock
As a result of his eloquence the miners knotted windlass-ropes together , and stole down upon the Chinese camp in the small and early hours of morning . There were twenty men on each cable , and one lot kept to the right of the camp , the other to the left , and , going noiselessly , they dragged the ropes through the frail huts and kennels in which the Mongols were sleeping , mowing them down as if they had been houses of cards , and towing an occasional screaming Chow out of the ruins , rolled in his filthy bedding . The whole camp of huddled shanties was razed to the ground in about two minutes , and the diggers drew off , without having given any clue to the cause of the disaster , leaving the heathen raging in the darkness . At about six o'clock Jim Done and his mates were awakened and brought pell-mell from their bunks by the sound of a great commotion coming from the direction of the Chinese camp . They saw the Chinamen gathered near the ruins of their dwellings , evidently in a state of tremendous excitement . A number of them were jumping about , gesticulating wildly , and uttering shrill cries , while half a dozen or so , armed with stout sticks , were energetically beating an object that lay upon the ground . ` By thunder !