three o'clock in the morning
`` I 'll go ! '' said Colonel Jeptha Harrington , magnate of Pleasantville . `` All right , '' said Bart Stirling , express company agent . It was three o'clock in the morning , and the scene was the little express office where so many unusual and exciting happenings had transpired within twenty-four hours . The colonel 's announcement was given in the tone of a man facing a hard proposition and forced to accept it -- or something worse . Bart 's reply was calm and off-handed . During a two hours ' siege with the military man he had never lost his temper or his wits , and had come off the victor .