ten o'clock
He sank into a chair and tears rolled down his cheeks Poor , poor Bob , strong as a lion in adversity , hysterical as a woman with victory in sight . The next day Sugar opened with a wild rush : `` 25,000 shares from 140 to 152 . '' That is the way it came on the tape , which meant that the crowd around the Sugar-pole was a mob and that the transactions were so heavy , quick , and tangled that no one could tell to a certainty just what the first or opening price was ; but after the first lull , after the gong , there were officially reported transactions aggregating 25,000 shares and at prices varying from 140 to 152 . I was over on the floor to see the scramble , for it was noised about long before ten o'clock that Sugar would open wild , and then , too , I wanted to be handy if Bob should need any quick advice . A minute before the gong struck , there were three hundred men jammed around the Sugar-pole ; men with set , determined faces ; men with their coats buttoned tight and shoulders thrown back for the rush to which , by comparison , that of a football team is child 's play . Every man in that crowd was a picked man , picked for what was coming . Each felt that upon his individual powers to keep a clear head , to shout loudest , to forget nothing , to keep his feet , and to stay as near the centre of the crowd as possible , depended his `` floor honour , '' perhaps his fortune , or , what was more to him , his client 's fortune .