3 minutes after 12
My reason straightway began to clamor ; that was natural . I did n't know how to go about satisfying it , because I knew that the testimony of men would n't serve -- my reason would say they were lunatics , and throw out their evidence . But all of a sudden I stumbled on the very thing , just by luck . I knew that the only total eclipse of the sun in the first half of the sixth century occurred on the 21st of June , A.D. 528 , O.S. , and began at 3 minutes after 12 noon . I also knew that no total eclipse of the sun was due in what to _ me _ was the present year -- i.e. , 1879 . So , if I could keep my anxiety and curiosity from eating the heart out of me for forty-eight hours , I should then find out for certain whether this boy was telling me the truth or not . Wherefore , being a practical Connecticut man , I now shoved this whole problem clear out of my mind till its appointed day and hour should come , in order that I might turn all my attention to the circumstances of the present moment , and be alert and ready to make the most out of them that could be made .