four o’clock
`` Hash some cold meat up for the master 's dinner , and make him an apple-charlotte pudding , '' said Mrs. Morel . `` He may go without pudding _ this _ day , '' said Mrs. Bower . Morel was not as a rule one of the first to appear at the bottom of the pit , ready to come up . Some men were there before four o'clock , when the whistle blew loose-all ; but Morel , whose stall , a poor one , was at this time about a mile and a half away from the bottom , worked usually till the first mate stopped , then he finished also . This day , however , the miner was sick of the work . At two o'clock he looked at his watch , by the light of the green candle -- he was in a safe working -- and again at half-past two . He was hewing at a piece of rock that was in the way for the next day 's work .