four o'clock in the afternoon
Ever since the floods of which I have spoken , the weather had been open , but with high winds , and little or no rain . Thus as the land dried after the floods there began to open cracks in the heavy clay soil on which Moonfleet is built , such as are usually only seen with us in the height of summer . There were cracks by the side of the path in the sea-meadows between the village and the church , and cracks in the churchyard itself , and one running right up to this very tomb . It must have been past four o'clock in the afternoon , and I was for returning to tea at my aunt 's , when underneath the stone on which I sat I heard a rumbling and crumbling , and on jumping off saw that the crack in the ground had still further widened , just where it came up to the tomb , and that the dry earth had so shrunk and settled that there was a hole in the ground a foot or more across . Now this hole reached under the big stone that formed one side of the tomb , and falling on my hands and knees and looking down it , I perceived that there was under the monument a larger cavity , into which the hole opened . I believe there never was boy yet who saw a hole in the ground , or a cave in a hill , or much more an underground passage , but longed incontinently to be into it and discover whither it led . So it was with me ; and seeing that the earth had fallen enough into the hole to open a way under the stone , I slipped myself in feet foremost , dropped down on to a heap of fallen mould , and found that I could stand upright under the monument itself .