midnight
His discharge would come to him by the tenth of August , and he would immediately set off for England . Upon his return to Prince Albert he was detailed to a big prairie stretch of country where there was little to do but wait . On the first day of August he was at Hymers when the Limited plunged down the embankment into Blind Indian River . The first word of it came over the wire from Bleak House Station a little before midnight , while he and the agent were playing cribbage . Pink-cheeked little Gunn , agent , operator , and one-third of the total population of Hymers , had lifted a peg to make a count when his hand stopped in mid-air , and with a gasping break in his voice he sprang to his feet . The instrument on the little table near the window was clicking frantically . It was Billinger , at Bleak House , crying out for headquarters , clear lines , the right of way .