five o'clock before
Twice or thrice before finishing his job he paused to listen again , but heard nothing . Still in musing mood , he scraped up the loose coal that lay around the manhole , shovelled it in , re-fixed the cover , and tossed his shovel on board . His next business was to fetch a horse from the stables at the Canal End and tow the boat back to her quarters ; and having taken another glance around , he set off and up the towpath at a pretty brisk pace . It would be five o'clock before he finished his work : at six he had an engagement , and it would take him some time to wash and titivate . Canal End Basin lay hard upon three-quarters of a mile up stream , and about half that distance beyond the bend of the Great Brewery -- a malodorous pool packed with narrow barges or monkey-boats -- a few loading leisurably , the rest moored in tiers awaiting their cargoes . They belonged to many owners , but their type was well nigh uniform . Each measured seventy feet in length , or a trifle over , with a beam of about seven ; each was built with rounded bilges , and would carry from twenty-five to thirty tons of cargo ; each provided , aft of its hold or cargo-well , a small cabin for the accommodation of its crew by day ; and for five-sixths of its length each was black as a gondola of Venice .