about three o'clock
`` By Wednesday noon we had cut back so far as we needed , shorein ' very careful as we went , and the men workin ' away cheerful , with the footboards of the expresses whizzin ' by close over their heads , so 's it felt like havin ' your hair brushed by machinery . By the time we knocked off for dinner I felt pretty easy in mind , knowin ' we 'd broke the back o ' the job . `` Well , we touched pipe and started again . Bein ' so close to the line I 'd posted a fella with a flag -- Bill Martin it was -- to keep a look out for the down-trains ; an ' about three o'clock or a little after he whistled one comin ' . I happened to be in the culvert at the time , but stepped out an ' back across the brook , just to fling an eye along the embankment to see that all was clear . Clear it was , an ' therefore it surprised me a bit , as the train hove in sight around the curve , to see that she had her brakes on , hard , and was slowin ' down to stop . My first thought was that Bill Martin must have taken some scare an ' showed her the red flag .