eight o'clock
It was known also that Gillis , the caretaker , had been shot and killed at the foot of the stairs , and that the robber had made off with fifty thousand dollars in currency ; that he had left a trail of blood on the sidewalk and that the men were out tracking him with bloodhounds in the great swamps to the north of the town . This , I say , and it is important to note it , was what they knew at half-past seven . Of course as each hour went past they learned more and more . At eight o'clock it was known that Pupkin was not dead , but dangerously wounded in the lungs . At eight-thirty it was known that he was not shot in the lungs , but that the ball had traversed the pit of his stomach . At nine o'clock it was learned that the pit of Pupkin 's stomach was all right , but that the bullet had struck his right ear and carried it away . Finally it was learned that his ear had not exactly been carried away , that is , not precisely removed by the bullet , but that it had grazed Pupkin 's head in such a way that it had stunned him , and if it had been an inch or two more to the left it might have reached his brain .