seven o'clock
They must keep theirs . Remind them I 'm not dead yet . Then Duncan went to inspect the progress of the work . It was after seven o'clock , and darkness had completely fallen , when Barbara received Guilford Duncan 's telegraphic appeal for help `` in earnest . '' She wasted no time -- slow operator that she was on the telegraph -- in sending messages of sympathy and reassurance . She laboriously spelled out the words : `` I 'll do my best , '' and closed the instrument in order that she might attend to more pressing things than telegraphic chatting . She summoned Bob to serve as her protector , and promptly sallied forth into the night .