one o'clock
That 's where we make our profits . Look ! '' Near one of the doors were four or five tables crowded with workmen in the raiment of their callings . They ate steadily , but found time to jest with the uniforms about them ; and when one o'clock clanged from a big half-built block of flats across the street , filed out . `` Those , '' Devine explained , `` are either our Line or Militiamen , as such entitled to the regulation whack at regulation cost . It 's cheaper than they could buy it ; an ' they meet their friends too . A man 'll walk a mile in his dinner hour to mess with his own lot . ''