four
o'clock in the afternoon
He spent nearly twenty silver dollars on the wire , telegraphing various towns to secure a competent man . He sent a friend to the Government office , where Lawrence was up to his ears in work , and procured all the data , including metes and bounds , of the reservation tract before its fateful opening . The day was consumed in the petty affairs attendant upon such a campaign . When his three old partners went away to their work at four o'clock in the afternoon , a wire had come from far out north that a man who was competent to run the line was starting for Goldite forthwith . The moonless night , at ten o'clock , found Van alone at his tent . From the top of the hill whereon he had camped a panoramic view of all the town swung far in both directions . The glare of the lamps , the noise of life -- even the odor of man upon the air -- impinged upon his senses here , as he sat before the door and gazed far down upon it .