eleven o'clock
I knew it was impossible -- that in perhaps less than half an hour I should be compelled to loose my hold and fall back into the black water without strength to stir a paralysed arm . I shouted again and again , but the walls echoed back my cry , and I knew it was of no use , for it was impossible for any one to hear me outside the place . It was only wasting strength , and that was wanted to sustain me as long as possible . There was one hope for me , though : my uncles would be returning from Redham at ten or eleven o'clock , and , not finding me at home , they would come in search of me . When it is too late ! I must have said that aloud , for the word _ late _ came echoing back from the wall , and for a time I hung there , feeling numbed , as it were , in my head , and as slow at thinking or trying to imagine some way of escape as I was at movement . But I made one more effort .