twelve o’clock
He whistled better than any man in Ballymoy , and spent much of his leisure in working up thrilling variations of popular tunes . Being confined by the call of duty to the living-room of the barrack in Ballymoy for a whole morning , he had accomplished a series of runs and trills through which the air of `` The Minstrel Boy '' seemed to struggle for expression . His attention was fixed on this composition , and not at all on the newspaper which lay across his knees . At twelve o'clock he rose from the bench on which he was sitting and allowed the newspaper to fall in a crumpled heap on the floor at his feet . He stretched himself and yawned . Then he glanced round the barrack-room with an air of weariness . Sergeant Colgan , his tunic unbuttoned , his grey flannel shirt open at the neck , dozed uncomfortably in a corner .