nine
o'clock in the morning
We just thought of it as if they 'd got a touch of fever or sunstroke , or broke a rib or something . They 'd get over it in a week or two , and be all right again . All the same , poor old Mr. Howard was n't always on the booze , not by any manner of means . He never touched a drop of anything , not even ginger-beer , while he was straight , and he kept us all going from nine o'clock in the morning till three in the afternoon , summer and winter , for more than six years . Then he died , poor old chap -- found dead in his bed one morning . Many a basting he gave me and Jim with an old malacca cane he had with a silver knob to it . We were all pretty frightened of him .