eight o'clock
When Greta took the child to her at sunset , there was an ineffable joy in her pale face , and next morning , when Greta awoke , Mercy was singing softly to herself in the sunrise . There was a gathering of miners near the pit-head that morning . It was pay day . The rule was that the miners on the morning shift should pass through the pay-office before going down the shaft at eight o'clock ; and that those on the night shift should pass through on their way home a few minutes afterward . When the morning men passed through the office they had found the pay-door shut , and a notice posted over it , saying , `` All wages due at eight o'clock to-day will be paid at the same hour to-morrow . '' Presently the men on the night shift came up in the cages , and after a brief explanation both gangs , with the banksmen and all top-ground hands , except the engine-man , trooped away to a place suitable for a conference . There was a worked-out open cutting a hundred yards away .