three o'clock
` For the matter of that , your reverence , ' said he , ` I could have received Communion any minit these last three days ; for God is my witness , neither bite nor sup has crossed my lips , not even a spoonful of wather . ' But to come back . Dear me , how easy it is to get me off the rail ! After three o'clock I used to start out for my sick-calls ; and , will you believe me , I was often out all night , going from one cabin to another , sometimes six or seven miles apart ; and I often rode home in the morning when the larks were singing above the sod and the sun was high in the sky . Open that quarto . '' He did . The leaves were as black as the cover , and clung together , tattered as they were .