eight o'clock
He found it would do very well for his purpose , and on returning offered the hotel-keeper a good pocket-knife for its use for the following day . This offer was at once accepted , and Matt set to work without delay to get the place into shape . By nightfall he was ready for business . In the meantime , he had sent a couple of small boys around to all the houses in the neighborhood to notify the folks of the sale , and as a consequence , by eight o'clock he had the shop quite comfortably filled . Without waiting to see if Andy might return on the late evening train , Matt started up business , and inside of half an hour had matters in full swing . He opened up with a lot of goods which the folks appeared to need , and they sold readily , much to the disgust of one of the proprietors of the regular stores , who came over to see what was going on . `` Humph !