ve, six?

"If only something, some accident even, will happen to detain papa and
mamma!" he thought. But how much more likely, it occurred to him, that
his father, having but a short leave of absence, would hasten, and
arrive before six.

"Tick-tock," went the clock.

"How slow, how very slow!" thought Brinton, and he wished there were
only some way of hurrying up the time, so that the soldiers would go
away.

Still the soldiers staid in the room, all but one, who had gone into the
kitchen to watch from there.

"Tick-tock," went the clock, and "whang-whang-whang-whang!" Only four
o'clock. Brinton began to fear that he could not hold out much longer.

"Tick-tock," went the clock. Each swing of the pendulum marked one
second, Brinton's mother had told him. If he could only make it swing
quicker, so that the seconds would fly a little faster!

"Why not try to?" Brinton was on the point of breaking down. He was
desperate. He felt that he must do something. He took hold of the
pendulum and gave it a little push. It yielded readily to his pressure.
None of the soldiers seemed to notice it. He gave it another push. The
result was the same. Brinton began to pick up courage, and he pushed the
pendulum to and fro, to and fro, to and fro.

He tried to keep it swinging at a perfectly even rate, and apparently he
succeeded. At any rate, the soldiers appeared to notice nothing
different. Yet Brinton was sure that he was causing the old clock to
tick off its seconds at a considerably livelier gait than usual. Half
past four came almost before he knew it, but by five o'clock Brinton
began to realize that he was very, very tired. He had already stood
absolutely still in that cramped, dark, close case, and he had pushed
the pendulum first with one hand and then with the other in that narrow
space until both felt sore and lame. Yet now that he had once begun, he
did not dare leave off, and still it did not seem possible that he could
keep it up.

The soldiers had kept very quiet for a long time. Brinton thought that
two of them must be napping.

At five o'clock the soldier who was awake aroused the corporal and the
other private, whom the corporal sent to relieve the man on guard in the
kitchen.

"I must 'ave slept mighty sound," remarked the corporal. "I'd never
believe I'd been asleep an hour, if I didn't see it hon the clock."

"No soigns av any wan yit," reported the man who had been in the
kitchen, whom Brinton judged