nine o'clock
Being thus left to their own devices , the `` committee '' took refuge in the wood-shed , for the night seemed uncomfortably cold , save when a fellow was indulging in plenty of exercise , and there they remained , looking out of the open door at the result of Jim 's handiwork ten minutes or more without speaking , when Chris Snyder broke the silence by asking , in his thin , piping voice : `` What are you fellows waiting here for ? Why do n't we carry the thing up to Master Lillie 's shop at once ? It wo n't be a hard job for four of us , and I must be getting home . Mother says a boy of my age ought not to be out-of-doors after nine o'clock . '' `` And that 's where your mother is right , Chris , '' Amos replied , with a laugh . `` We shall all get the reputation of being very dissolute lads if the meetings at the Liberty Tree are continued many weeks longer . As a matter of fact , I think you had best go home now . ''