About ten
o'clock
On the night in question the tramp had been `` pounding his ear '' -- this stuck to me as being graphic -- in an empty box-car along the siding at Casanova . The train was going west , and due to leave at dawn . The tramp and the `` brakey '' were friendly , and things going well . About ten o'clock , perhaps earlier , a terrific crash against the side of the car roused him . He tried to open the door , but could not move it . He got out of the other side , and just as he did so , he heard some one groan . The habits of a lifetime made him cautious .