about half past seven o'clock
`` He could n't ha ' heard o ' that petition they 're gettin ' up from none of the fish he 's hauled in ; ' t will ` bout set him crazy , but I was bound I 'd sign it with the rest . The old dory 's jumpin ' right out of water every stroke he pulls . '' The next night the Packer farmhouse stood in the winter landscape under the full moon , just as it had stood always , with a light in the kitchen window , and a plume of smoke above the great , square chimney . It was about half past seven o'clock . A group of men were lurking at the back of the barn , like robbers , and speaking in low tones . Now and then the horse stamped in the barn , or a cow lowed ; a dog was barking , away over on the next farm , with an anxious tone , as if something were happening that he could not understand . The sea boomed along the shore beyond the marshes ; the men could hear the rote of a piece of pebble beach a mile or two to the southward ; now and then there was a faint tinkle of sleigh-bells .