six o'clock
`` That 's going to be a peekaneeka , sure , '' Grandma said grimly . Children were not allowed to work in the oysters , but Grandma was going to try . The children could tell she was nervous about it , by the way her foot jerked up and down when she gave Sally her bottle that night ; but she said she expected she was n't too dumb to do what other folks could . The children were still asleep when the grown-ups went to work in the six o'clock darkness of that November Saturday . When they woke , mush simmered on the cookstove and a bottle of milk stood on the table . It took time to feed Sally and wash dishes and make beds ; and then Dick and Rose-Ellen ran over to the nearest long oyster-house and peeked through a hole in the wall . Down each side , raised above the fishy wet floor , ran a row of booths , each with a desk and step , made of rough boards .