about 8:30
They put them in a dark place in the barn , so the hornets would n't get curious and want to come out of the nests before they got their cue . That afternoon we fitted them into the Chinese lanterns , and tied sticks on the lanterns and fixed the candles , and when night came there were more negroes than I could use , But I told them to follow along , and the door tender would let them in , and all they need to do was to yell for Teddy when I did , and so we marched to the main tent about the time the performance got to going . I saw pa with his gang of white men go into the dressing room at about the same time . The manager had timed it for us to come in about 8:30 , into the main tent , when the elephants were in their pyramid act , so my crowd of negroes stopped in the menagerie tent half an hour waiting to be called . I wish I was n't so confounded curious , but I suppose I was born that way . I took one of the Chinese lanterns that was not lighted and just thought I would like to see what the hyenas and the big lion , who were in the same cage , with an iron partition between them , would do if a Chinese lantern was put in the cage , so I got the fellow that watches the cage to open up the top trap door , and I dropped a Chinese lantern with a hornets ' nest in it right between the two hyenas . Gee , but you ought to have seen them pounce on it , and bite it and tear it up , and then the hornets woke up , and they did n't do a thing to that mess of hyenas .