seven o'clock
`` Jump ! '' She sprang lightly to the heap of nets , lost her balance , stumbled , and sat down very suddenly . Then she threw back her head and laughed ; peal on peal of deliciously childish laughter rang through the ancient net-shed , until , overhead , the passing gulls echoed her mirth with querulous mewing , and the sea-hawk , towering to the zenith , wheeled and squealed . At seven o'clock that morning the men in the circus camp awoke , worried , fatigued , vaguely resentful , unusually profane . Horan was openly mutinous , and announced his instant departure . By eight o'clock a miraculous change had taken place ; the camp was alive with scurrying people , galvanized into hopeful activity by my possibly unwarranted optimism and a few judiciously veiled threats . Clothed with temporary authority by Byram , I took the bit between my teeth and ordered the instant erection of the main tents , the construction of the ring , barriers , and benches , and the immediate renovating of the portable tank in which poor little Miss Claridge had met her doom .