three o'clock
About half-past two Deacon Mason drove into the Square , and the Professor went to meet him , and shook hands with him . In a short time his other backers , who had agreed to endorse his notes to the amount of two thousand dollars , arrived upon the scene , and he took occasion to welcome them in a manner that could not escape the attention of the crowd . It was now ten minutes of three , and the auctioneer stepped upon the temporary platform that had been erected for him , and bringing his hammer down upon the head of a barrel that had been placed in front of him , he read , in a loud voice , which reached every portion of the Square , the printed notice that for several weeks had hung upon the fences , sheds , and trees of Mason 's Corner , Eastborough Centre , West Eastborough , and Montrose . It was now three o'clock , for that hour was rung out by the bell on the Rev. Caleb Howe 's church . The auctioneer prefaced his inquiry for bids by the usual grandiloquence in use by members of that fraternity , closing his oration with that often-heard remark , `` How much am I offered ? '' The Professor , who was standing by the side of Deacon Mason 's team , called out in a loud voice , `` Fifteen hundred ! '' `` Well , I 'll take that just for a starter , '' said the auctioneer , `` but of course no sane man not fitted to be the inmate of an idiotic asylum thinks that this fine piece of ground , this long-built and long-established grocery store , filled to overflowing with all the necessities and delicacies of the season , a store which has been in successful operation for nearly forty years , and of which the good will is worth a good deal more than the sum just bid , will be sold for any such preposterous figure !