ten minutes after three
`` When you get to heaven , parson , you 'll keep them all busy a hundred years and a day trying to cut and make a suit of sky clothes big enough to fit your real measure , '' said he , irrelevantly . `` You real thing in holy sports , come on , since you 've got to ! '' With that he blew out the light , and we stepped into the cold and windy night . It was ten minutes after three . Armed with bottle-belt , knapsack , and net , many a happy night had I gone forth with the Butterfly Man a-hunting for such as we might find of our chosen prey . Armed now with nothing more nor less formidable than the black rosary upon which my hand shut tightly , I , Armand De Rancé , priest and gentleman , walked forth with Slippy McGee in those hours when deep sleep falls upon the spirit of man , for to aid and encourage and abet and assist and connive at , nothing more nor less than burglary . The wind that precedes the dawn was blowing , a freakish and impish wind though not a vicious one .