five o'clock
The first time this happened I thought the last day was come sure . I did n't think it in bed -- no , but out of it -- for the first effect of that frightful gong is to hurl you across the house , and slam you against the wall , and then curl you up , and squirm you like a spider on a stove lid , till somebody shuts the kitchen door . In solid fact , there is no clamor that is even remotely comparable to the dire clamor which that gong makes . Well , this catastrophe happened every morning regularly at five o'clock , and lost us three hours sleep ; for , mind you , when that thing wakes you , it does n't merely wake you in spots ; it wakes you all over , conscience and all , and you are good for eighteen hours of wide-awakeness subsequently -- eighteen hours of the very most inconceivable wide-awakeness that you ever experienced in your life . A stranger died on our hands one time , and we vacated and left him in our room overnight . Did that stranger wait for the general judgment ? No , sir ; he got up at five the next morning in the most prompt and unostentatious way .