six o'clock
The crisis is one that demands calm , earnest thought and decisive action . '' `` I will be here , '' replied Markland , rising . Then , with a formal bow , he left the agent 's office . THE time until six o'clock , the meeting-hour of the Board , was not spent by Mr. Markland in solitary thought . He visited , during that period , three of the principal men interested in the business , and gleaned from them their views in regard to the late startling intelligence . Most of them seemed utterly confounded , and no two had arrived at the same conclusion as to what was best to be done . Nearly all were inclined to credit fully the report of Lyon 's having failed to pay the last three instalments on the Company 's land , and they denounced him bitterly .