Six o'clock
As often as he had a moment to spare he went down the street to the nearest saloon and drank a pony of whiskey . Now and then as he fought and struggled with the vast masses of ebony , rosewood , and mahogany on the upper floor of the music store , raging and chafing at their inertness and unwillingness , while the whiskey pirouetted in his brain , he would mutter to himself : `` An ' I got to do this . I got to work like a dray horse while she sits at home by her stove and counts her money -- and sells my concertina . '' Six o'clock came . Instead of supper , McTeague drank some more whiskey , five ponies in rapid succession . After supper he was obliged to go out with the dray to deliver a concert grand at the Odd Fellows ' Hall , where a piano `` recital '' was to take place . `` Ai n't you coming back with us ? ''