Eight o'clock
sir , I remembers , as if it were yesterday , in old Sir Titus Fitzblazes 's time , sir , when they was as plentiful as the blackberries on Browndown ! `` W ` y , sir , b ` lieve me or not if yer likes , but there was n't a mornin ' -- barring Sundays in course -- as yer would n't hear that theer blessed gun a-firin ' for a court-martial , sir , j' est the same as ye heerd j' est now , sir , yezsir ! Ah , them was fine times , they was , for the watermen on Hardway ; for they usest to make a rare harvest a-taking off witnesses and prisoners ' ` friends , ' as they calls 'em , and lawyers and noospaper chaps to the flagship , they did . The old chaps called the signal gun ` old Fitzblazes 's Eight o'clock Gun , ' sir . They did so , sir , yezsir ! '' `` Indeed , waiter ? '' said I , feeling quite proud of his thus speaking to me as if I were a grown-up person .