About two o'clock
In vain he sought to fatigue his senses by over-indulgence in his weakness for gambling . Day-long sessions at poker and auction in the smoking room -- where he found formidable antagonists , principally in the persons of Crane , Bartlett Putnam , Velasco , Bartholomew , Julius Becker and Baron von Harden -- served only to forward his financial fortunes ; his luck was phenomenal ; he multiplied many times that slender store of English banknotes with which he had embarked upon this adventure . But he left each exhausting sitting only to toss upon a wakeful pillow or to roam uneasily the dark and desolate decks , a man haunted by ghosts of his own raising , hagridden by passions of his own nurturing ... . About two o'clock on the third night -LRB- the first outside the danger zone , when every other passenger might reasonably be expected to be in his berth -RRB- Lanyard lay in a deck-chair deep in shadows , wondering if it was worthwhile to go below and woo sleep in his stateroom . By way of experiment he shut his eyes . When after a moment he opened them again he was no longer alone . Some distance away , at the rail , the woman of Stateroom 27 was standing with her back to Lanyard , looking intently forward , unquestionably ignorant of his presence .