six o'clock
Virtually it said to one pair of ears : `` My darling , I have come back to you . '' Whenever the engineer pulled the rope for that particular signal , he pictured his wife arising from her work-basket in their little parlour with a thrill of pleasure and affection , and passing out to the kitchen . She , likewise , at the signal , made a mental image of Tom , seated in the engine cab , his one hand fixed upon the shining lever , his eyes fixed upon the glistening tracks ahead . At six o'clock , usually , supper was hot , and Tom arrived through the front gateway , glancing at the flower-bed in the centre of the diminutive grass plot , carrying his dinner-pail , having divested himself of his grimy , greasy blouse and overalls at the great repair shops , where his engine had already begun , with much panting , to spend the night . In a small railroad town on the main line , one is continually hearing locomotive whistles . All the inhabitants know that one long moan of the steam is the signal of the train 's swift approach ; that two short shrieks of the whistle direct the trainmen to tighten the brakes ; that four , given when the train is still , are intended for the flagman , who has gone away to the rear to warn back the next train , and that they tell him to return to his own train as it is about to start ; that five whistles in succession announce a wreck and command the immediate attendance of the wreck crew . In the town many cheeks blanch when those five long , ominous wails of the escaping steam cleave the air .