nine o'clock
`` Well , what 's the news ? '' `` Give me the money first , and then I 'll tell you . '' Jack Vance fortunately had the required coin in his pocket , and Diggory dropped it into Joe Crump 's cap . `` Well , the news is this , '' said the latter , speaking in the same low tone -- `` that there Noaks and Hogson are coming up here to-night just afore nine o'clock , and they 're a-going to drown your fireworks . '' `` Drown our fireworks ! why , what ever d'you mean ? How do they know we 've got any fireworks ?