six o'clock
`` Look at me , Clara Vavrika . _ Skoal ! _ '' She raised her burning eyes and answered fiercely : `` _ Skoal ! _ '' The barn supper began at six o'clock and lasted for two hilarious hours . Yense Nelson had made a wager that he could eat two whole fried chickens , and he did . Eli Swanson stowed away two whole custard pies , and Nick Hermanson ate a chocolate layer cake to the last crumb . There was even a cooky contest among the children , and one thin , slablike Bohemian boy consumed sixteen and won the prize , a gingerbread pig which Johanna Vavrika had carefully decorated with red candies and burnt sugar .