three o'clock
It was a shade cooler in the press-room than the office , so I sat there , while the type ticked and clicked , and the night-jars hooted at the windows , and the all but naked compositors wiped the sweat from their foreheads and called for water . The thing that was keeping us back , whatever it was , would not come off , though the _ loo _ dropped and the last type was set , and the whole round earth stood still in the choking heat , with its finger on its lip , to wait the event . I drowsed , and wondered whether the telegraph was a blessing , and whether this dying man , or struggling people was aware of the inconvenience the delay was causing . There was no special reason beyond the heat and worry to make tension , but , as the clock hands crept up to three o'clock and the machines spun their fly-wheels two and three times to see that all was in order , before I said the word that would set them off , I could have shrieked aloud . Then the roar and rattle of the wheels shivered the quiet into little bits . I rose to go away , but two men in white clothes stood in front of me . The first one said : -- `` It 's him ! ''