nearly eight o'clock
`` Hicks , a Senior -- nobody home -- can that noise ! '' `` Shoot him at sunrise ! Where 's his Senior dignity ? '' Big Butch Brewster , referring to his watch , bellowed through the megaphone that it was nearly eight o'clock , and loudly suggested that they forcibly terminate Hicks ' saengerfest , and spare the town police force a riot call to the campus , by transporting the pestiferous youth to the Auditorium , for his `` surprise party . '' His idea finding favor , he , with Beef and Pudge , somewhat hampered by their gowns , lumbered up the stairway of Bannister , and down the third-floor corridor to the offending Hicks ' boudoir , followed by a yelling , surging crowd of Seniors and underclassmen . They invaded the graceless youth 's room , much to the pretended alarm of that torturesome collegian , who believed that the entire student-body of old Bannister had foregathered to wreak vengeance on his devoted head . '' _ Mercy _ !