four o'clock
He sat down to his lonely meal , and ate slowly , getting up two or three times from his candle-box in a growing anxiety for Ans , using the heated poker now to clear a spot on the pane . He expressed his growing apprehension , manlike , by getting angry . `` I do n't see what the darn fool means by stayin ' so late . It 'll be dark by four o'clock , er jest as soon as that cloud over there strikes us . You could n't beat sense into some men 's heads with a club . '' He had eaten his dinner now , and had taken to pacing up and down the little room , which was exactly six paces long and three wide , and just high enough to permit Anson to walk erect in the highest part . `` Nice fix to leave a man in , ai n't it ?