About ten o'clock
In the next two hours every man on the elevator saw him , learned a quicker way to splice a rope or align a shaft , and heard , before the boss went away , some word of commendation that set his hands to working the faster , and made the work seem easy . The work had gone on without interruption for weeks , and never slowly , but there were times when it went with a lilt and a laugh ; when laborers heaved at a hoisting tackle with a Yo-ho , like privateersmen who have just sighted a sail ; when , with all they could do , results came too slowly , and the hours flew too fast . And so it was that Christmas night ; Charlie Bannon was back on the job . About ten o'clock he encountered Pete , bearing off to the shanty a quart bottle of cold coffee and a dozen big , thick sandwiches . `` Come on , Charlie , '' he called . `` Max is coming , too ; but I guess we 've got enough to spare you a little . '' So the three of them sat down to supper around the draughting-table , and between bites Bannon talked , a little about everything , but principally , and with much corroborative detail -- for the story seemed to strain even Pete 's easy credulity -- of how , up at Yawger , he had been run on the independent ticket for Superintendent of the Sunday School , and had been barely defeated by two votes .