the hour of five o'clock
`` I observed as much myself , '' said Connor ; `` an ' that was what made me spake . '' Both then continued their labor with redoubled energy , nor ceased for a moment until the task was executed , and the business of the day concluded . Flanagan 's observation was indeed correct , as to the change in the day and the appearance of the sky . From the hour of five o'clock the darkness gradually deepened , until a dead black shadow , fearfully still and solemn , wrapped the whole horizon . The sun had altogether disappeared , and nothing was visible in the sky but one unbroken mass of darkness , unrelieved even by a single pile of clouds . The animals , where they could , had betaken themselves to shelter ; the fowls of the air sought the covert of the hedges , and ceased their songs ; the larks fled from the mid-heaven ; and occasionally might be seen a straggling bee hurrying homewards , careless of the flowers which tempted him in his path , and only anxious to reach his hive before the deluge should overtake him . The stillness indeed was awful , as was the gloomy veil which darkened the face of nature , and filled the mind with that ominous terror which presses upon the heart like a consciousness of guilt .