four o'clock
Among the latter was one named Cut - 'em - in-half , so cruel was he ; above all , cruel toward children . They called him so , because , with a hatchet , he had cut in two a little Savoyard ! '' At this part of the story the prison clock struck a quarter past three . The prisoners entering their sleeping apartments at four o'clock , the crime was to be consummated before that hour . `` Thousand thunders ! the keeper does not go , '' whispered the Skeleton to the Big Cripple . `` Be quiet ; once the story started , he will leave . ''