three in the morning
Had Mr. Higginbotham cared about posthumous renown , his untimely ghost would have exulted in this tumult . Our friend Dominicus in his vanity of heart forgot his intended precautions , and , mounting on the town-pump , announced himself as the bearer of the authentic intelligence which had caused so wonderful a sensation . He immediately became the great man of the moment , and had just begun a new edition of the narrative with a voice like a field-preacher when the mail-stage drove into the village street . It had travelled all night , and must have shifted horses at Kimballton at three in the morning . `` Now we shall hear all the particulars ! '' shouted the crowd . The coach rumbled up to the piazza of the tavern followed by a thousand people ; for if any man had been minding his own business till then , he now left it at sixes and sevens to hear the news .