four o'clock
A day or two afterwards the great passage outside the bedrooms was cleared of the boxes and portmanteaus , which went down to be packed by the matron , and great games of chariot-racing , and cock-fighting , and bolstering , went on in the vacant space , the sure sign of a closing half-year . Then came the making-up of parties for the journey home , and Tom joined a party who were to hire a coach , and post with four horses to Oxford . Then the last Saturday , on which the Doctor came round to each form to give out the prizes , and hear the masters ' last reports of how they and their charges had been conducting themselves ; and Tom , to his huge delight , was praised , and got his remove into the lower-fourth , in which all his School-house friends were . On the next Tuesday morning , at four o'clock , hot coffee was going on in the housekeeper 's and matron 's rooms ; boys wrapped in great coats and mufflers were swallowing hasty mouthfuls , rushing about , tumbling over luggage , and asking questions all at once of the matron ; outside the School-gates were drawn up several chaises and the four-horse coach which Tom 's party had chartered , the post-boys in their best jackets and breeches , and a cornopean player , hired for the occasion , blowing away `` A southerly wind and a cloudy sky , '' waking all peaceful inhabitants half-way down the High Street . Every minute the bustle and hubbub increased , porters staggered about with boxes and bags , the cornopean played louder . Old Thomas sat in his den with a great yellow bag by his side , out of which he was paying journey money to each boy , comparing by the light of a solitary dip the dirty crabbed little list in his own handwriting with the Doctor 's list , and the amount of his cash ; his head was on one side , his mouth screwed up , and his spectacles dim from early toil . He had prudently locked the door , and carried on his operations solely through the window , or he would have been driven wild , and lost all his money .