about ten o'clock
From that moment Mr. Ripley seemed to take a keen delight in goading Mr. Bates . He took a sudden dash half-way down the length of the long room , as if going to the extreme other end of the plant , then suddenly whirled and retraced his steps to meet Biff coming after him ; made an equally sudden dart for the mysterious switch-board , and seized a lever as if to throw it , but suddenly changed his mind , apparently , and went away , leaving Mr. Bates to infer that the throwing of that particular lever would leave them all in darkness ; later , with Biff ready to spring upon him , he threw that switch to show that it had no important function to perform at all . To all these and many more ingenious tricks to humiliate him , Mr. Bates paid not the slightest attention , but , as calmly and as impassively as Fate , kept as nearly as he could to the four-foot distance he had promised . It was about ten o'clock when Biff , interested for a moment in the switch-board , suddenly missed Ripley , and looking about him hastily he saw the fireman standing in the door of the boiler-room grinning at him , while the other workmen -- all of whom were of the old regime -- were also enjoying his discomfort ; but Daly , catching his eye , nodded significantly toward the side-door which led upon the street . It was an almost imperceptible nod , but it was enough for Biff , and he dashed out of that door . Half a block ahead of him he saw Ripley hurrying , and took after him with that light , cat-like run which is the height of effortless and noiseless speed . Ripley , looking back hastily , hurried into a saloon , and he had scarcely closed the door when Biff entered after him , in time to see his man standing at the telephone , receiver in hand .