ten P.M.
Do n't let them spare expense at the other end , and if you can bring proof of delivery to Room 261 within half an hour , it means a month 's pay to you , individually . Can you do it ? '' But the operator was already claiming the wire , writing `` deth , '' `` deth , '' `` deth , '' as rapidly as his fingers could shake off the dots and dashes . Between the hours of eight-thirty and ten P.M. the Union Passenger Station at the capital presents a moving and spirited spectacle . Within the hour and a half , four through and three local trains are due to leave , and the space within the iron grille that fences off the track platforms from the public part of the station is filled with hurrying throngs of train-takers . Down at the outer end of the train-shed the stuttering pop-valves of the locomotives , the thunderous trundling of the heavy baggage trucks , and the shrill , monotonous chant of the express messengers checking in their cargoes , lift a din harmonious to the seasoned traveler ; a medley softened and distance-diminished for those that crowd upon the gate-keepers at the iron grille . It was the evening of the last day in the month ; the day when the Federative Council of Railway Workers had sent its ultimatum to Receiver Guilford .