half after two in the morning
But he might as well have been ten miles away , and too well he knew it . The air was sweet here , for where foxes can run , air can also go ; but outlet there was none for him , though somewhere in the mass of stone he doubted not there was a fox-way . He turned on the torch then and shifted a good few big stones and moved more ; but he saw in half an hour the job was beyond his powers and that if he 'd been Goliath of Gath he could n't have broke down that curtain of granite single-handed . He 'd found a pool of water and got a drink and he 'd satisfied his mind that his elbow bled no more , and that was all the cheer he had , for now his torch went out for good and with its last gleam he 'd looked at his watch and seen that it was half after two in the morning . Night or day , however , promised to be all the same for Amos now , and he could n't tell whether daylight would penetrate the fall of stone when it came , or if the rock was too heavy to allow of it . And in any case a gleam of morning would n't help him , for the Goyle was two good miles from Merripit village , and a month might well pass before any man went that way . Nor would Amos be the wiser if a regiment of soldiers was marching outside .