ten o'clock
In police circles the night had been quiet , the cells in the yard were empty , the telephone at his elbow had remained silent , and Standish , alone in the station-house , had employed himself in cramming `` Moss 's Manual for Subalterns . '' He found it a fascinating exercise . The hope that soon he might himself be a subaltern always burned brightly , and to be prepared seemed to make the coming of that day more certain . It was ten o'clock and Las Palmas lay sunk in slumber , and after the down train which was now due had passed , there was nothing likely to disturb her slumber until at sunrise the great army of dirt-diggers with shrieks of whistles , with roars of dynamite , with the rumbling of dirt-trains and steam-shovels , again sprang to the attack . Down the hill , a hundred yards below Standish , the night train halted at the station , with creakings and groanings continued toward Colon , and again Las Palmas returned to sleep . And , then , quickly and viciously , like the crack of a mule-whip , came the reports of a pistol ; and once more the hot and dripping silence . On post at the railroad-station , whence the shots came , was Meehan , one of the Zone police , an ex-sergeant of marines .