about eleven o'clock
and the grocery man came around from behind the counter to get the latest gossip to retail to the hired girls who traded with him . `` Jealous nothin ' , '' said the boy > as he took a few raisins out of a box . `` You see , the delegates were shuffled out to all the church members to take care of , and they dealt two to Ma , and she never told Pa anything about it . They came to supper the first night , and Pa did n't get home , so when they went to the Convention in the evening Ma gave them a night key , and Pa came home from the boxing match about eleven o'clock , and Ma was asleep . Just as Pa got most of his clothes off he heard somebody fumbling at the front door , and he thought it was burglars . Pa has got nerve enough , when he is on the inside of the house and the burglars are on the outside . He opened a window and looked out and saw two suspicious looking characters trying to pick the lock with a skeleton key , and he picked up a new slop-jar that Ma had bought when we moved , cover and all , and dropped it down right between the two del-gates .