ten o'clock
It was not until he had summarily ordered them to go to their homes and not come near him that the colonel managed to get a clear statement from some of the men . Clancy had been away all the evening , drinking as usual , and Mrs. Clancy was searching about Sudsville as much for sympathy and listeners as for him . Little Kate , who knew her father 's haunts , had guided him home , and was striving to get him to his little sleeping-corner before her mother 's return , when in his drunken helplessness he fell against the table , overturning the kerosene lamp , and the curtains were all aflame in an instant . It was just after taps -- or ten o'clock -- when Kate 's shrieks aroused the inmates of Sudsville and started the cry of `` Fire . '' The flimsy structure of pine boards burned like so much tinder , and the child and her stupefied father had been dragged forth only in time to save their lives . The little one , after giving the alarm , had rushed again into the house and was tugging at his senseless form when rescue came for both , -- none too soon . As for Mrs. Clancy , at the first note of danger she had rushed screaming to the spot , but only in time to see the whole interior ablaze and to howl frantically for some man to save her money , -- it was all in the green box under the bed .