eleven o'clock
Whatever maneuvers he might resort to in business affairs in order to avoid a conflict with his lawless neighbors , he was courageous and inflexible on the bench . The Squire was the better part of him . With the co-operation of the constable , he had organized a _ posse _ of men who could be depended on to enforce the law against a mob . By the time the trial opened in the large school-house in Clifty at eleven o'clock , all the surrounding country had emptied its population into Clifty , and all Flat Creek was on hand ready to testify to something . Those who knew the least appeared to know the most , and were prodigal of their significant winks and nods . Mrs. Means had always suspected him . She seed some mighty suspicious things about him from the word go .