four o'clock
If that was the case , and the students were ordered out to preserve order , which side would they support ? Would they hang together , or would they split up into factions ? Somehow the students did not like to dwell upon these questions , but dismissed them as soon they came into their minds . When four o'clock was struck by the bell on the tower , the usual number of boys climbed the fence and set out for Barrington , and although they came back fully satisfied that there was something afoot , there was not one among them who had a word of news . `` The town looks as though it had been struck by a panic , '' said Dixon . `` There was hardly anybody in the post-office , and the few people I saw on the streets looked as if they might be on their way to a funeral . I could n't get a thing out of any man I saw , so I called on the Taylor girls , who told me the committee has positive evidence that there is to be an uprising among the negroes , led by such men as Elder Bowen .