eight o'clock
Such conditions would have been fatal to the barbaric struggles for supremacy which ambition has waged through all the past ; they are ideal conditions for these modern conflicts of the market which more and more absorb the ambitions of men . Instead of shot and shell and regiments of `` cannon food , '' there are battalions of capital , the paper certificates of the stored-up toil or trickery of men ; instead of mangled bodies and dead , there are minds in the torment of financial peril or numb with the despair of financial ruin . But the stakes are the same old stakes -- power and glory and wealth for a few , thousands on thousands dragged or cozened into the battle in whose victory they share scantily , if at all , although they bear its heaviest losses on both sides . It was half-past eight o'clock when Dumont put the receiver to his ear and greeted Tavistock in a strong , cheerful voice . `` Never felt better in my life , '' was his answer to Tavistock 's inquiry as to his health . `` Even old Sackett admits I 'm in condition . But he says I must have no irritations -- so , be careful to carry out orders . ''