Twelve o'clock
The Twins and Pablo with their precious Judases went to a bench near the fountain , and sat down to watch the fun . There were water-carriers filling their long earthen jars at the fountain ; there were young girls in bright dresses who laughed a great deal ; and there were young men in big hats and gay serapes who stood about and watched them . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- There were more small boys than you could count . Twelve o'clock was the time that every one was supposed to set off his fire-crackers , and the children waited patiently until the shadows were very short indeed under the trees in the square and there had been one or two explosions to start the noise , then they tied their Judases up in a row to the back of the bench . They hung Tonio 's Maestro in the middle , with Tita 's donkey-boy on one side and the policeman on the other . Pablo 's Judas was a policeman too , and they put him on the other side of the donkey-boy . Then Pablo borrowed a match from a boy and set fire to the first cracker on his policeman .