eleven o'clock
He gave her a savage but friendly cuff as they parted . That evening old Barnaby brought his banjo around to the veranda . Colonel Sommerton was down in town mixing with the `` boys , '' and doing up his final political chores so that there might be no slip on the morrow . It was near eleven o'clock when he came up the hill and stopped at the gate to hear the song that Barnaby was singing . He supposed that the old negro was all alone . Certainly the captivating voice , with its unkempt melody , and its throbbing , skipping , harum-scarum banjo accompaniment , was all that broke the silence of the place . His song was :