five
o'clock
A furious gale drove down from the west and the very stars were shut in behind a gloomy sky . Little Jacky Moran trimmed his lantern , filled it with oil , whistled for Grey , and set forth as the black night was falling . The oncoming darkness seemed to outdo itself . Before he was half way up the river , night fell , and he found that he could see but a very few feet before him , although it was not yet half-past five o'clock . At six the men would leave the mill over the river , and , journeying afoot across the ice , would reach home in safety if the lantern were lighted , and if not , any or all of them might be plunged into the treacherous `` Wild Cat , '' with no hope of ever reaching shore alive . `` He called me Jack o ' Lantern , '' the boy said to himself . `` It 's a dancing , deceiving light , but he 'll find to-night that I 'll deceive nobody . ''