10 o'clock
Long lines of hansoms spinning briskly toward the station , with bulging portmanteaus on the roof ; the wide sunny sweep of the Broad with the ` bus trundling past Trinity gates ; a knot of tall youths in the ` varsity uniform of gray `` bags '' and brown tweed norfolk , smoking and talking at the Balliol lodge -- and over it all the clang of a hundred chimes , the gray fingers of a thousand spires and pinnacles , the moist blue sky of England ... . Ah , it is the palace of youth , or it was once . The Scorpions met on the dingy north-bound platform . Graham , Keith , and Twiston had been obliged to scratch owing to other more imperative plans ; but five members boarded the 10 o'clock train in high spirits . Forbes , Carter , King , Blair , and Whitney -- they filled a third-class smoker with tobacco and jest . `` Now , Goblin , '' cried Falstaff , as the train ran past the Port Meadow , and the Radcliffe dome dropped from view ; `` Open those sealed orders ! You promised to draw up the rules of the game . ''