about
midnight
`` Now , why could n't Jessie or I think of that ! Twelve hours to fall ! No , it would have been six hours falling , would n't it ? You said the fire broke out about midnight . Well , you can think of more things and keep more quiet about them than any ten men that ever I saw . When I think of anything I like to tell of it , and I expect likely that 's the reason that I never think of real smart things ; I do n't hold on to them long enough ; I pick them before they 're ripe . '' Jessie went to the stove and lifted a lid to peep inquiringly into the fire-box .