Six o'clock
Nevertheless , patrol work was still being done carefully . It had become an axiom of a British sailor that a German was not to be trusted -- that when he appeared the least dangerous , it was time to watch him more carefully . Consequently , in spite of the impending armistice , the vigilance of the British fleet was not relaxed . Six o'clock came , and seven ; and still there had been no word from the scene of the armistice conference . At eight o'clock Frank said : `` I do n't know what we are sitting up for . Something must have gone wrong again . If the armistice had been signed we would know something of it by this time . ''