ten o'clock
High up in the air the apparatus noiselessly and untiringly flashed forth one message after the other in big , black letters on the white ground -- telling of one train attack after another . But of that living machine in the far West , working with clocklike regularity and slowly adding one link after the other to the chain , that machine which at this very moment had already separated three of the States by an impenetrable wall from the others and had thus blotted out three of the stars on the blue field of the Union flag -- of that uncanny machine neither John Halifax nor the people loitering opposite the newspaper building in order to take a last sensation home with them , had the remotest idea . Not till the next morning was the meaning of these first flaming signs to be made clear . * * * * * At ten o'clock the telephone bell rang noisily beside John Halifax 's bed . He seized the receiver and swore under his breath on learning that important telegrams required his presence at the office . `` There is n't any reason why Harry Springley should n't go on with those old train-robbers , '' he grumbled ; `` I do n't see what they want of me , but I suppose the stupid fellow does n't know what to do , as usual . '' An hour later , when he entered the editorial rooms of the _ New York Daily Telegraph _ , he found his colleagues in a great state of excitement .