two o'clock
I -- I wish the game was over with ! '' `` So do I , '' answered Neil , as with a sigh he listlessly followed his chum into the house . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- High up against a fair blue sky studded with fleecy clouds streamed a banner of royal purple bearing in its center a great white E -- a flare of intense color visible from afar over the topmost branches of the empty elms , and a beacon toward which the stream of spectators set their steps . In the tower of College Hall the old bell struck two o'clock , and the throngs at the gates of Erskine Field moved faster , swaying and pushing past the ticket-takers and streaming out onto the field toward the big stands already piled high with laughing , chattering humanity . Under the great flag stretched a long bank of somber grays and black splashed thickly with purple , looking from a little distance as though the big banner had dripped its dye on to the multitude beneath . Opposite , the rival tiers of crowded seats were pricked out lavishly with the rich but less brilliant brown , while at the end of the enclosure , where the throngs entered , a smaller stand flaunted the two colors in almost equal proportions . And between stretched a smooth expanse of russet-hued turf ribbed with white lines that glared in the afternoon sunlight .