About ten o'clock
And now the `` Ark '' must have been hot right through to the ground , for the rats were beginning to leave . They came in long , winding files from the entry , and up out of the cellars of the old iron merchant and the old clothes dealer , headed by the old , scabby males which used to visit the dustbins in the middle of the day . The onlookers cheered and drove them back again . About ten o'clock the fire was visibly decreasing and the work of clearance could begin . The crowd scattered , a little disappointed that all was over so soon . The `` Ark '' was an extinct bonfire ! There could not have been a sackful of sound firewood in all that heap of lumber !