half past twelve
The gondoliers bent to their oars , and sent the boat swiftly out into the lagoon . `` There , for example , is a person who would be quite insensible to my greatness , even if I had the consular seal in my pocket . To him we are possible smugglers ; -LSB- Footnote : Under the Austrians , Venice was a free port but everything carried there to the mainland was liable to duty . -RSB- and I must say , '' he continued , taking out his watch , and staring hard at it , `` that if I were a disinterested person , and heard his suspicion met with the explanation that we were a little party out here for pleasure at half past twelve P. M. , I should say he was right . At any rate we wo n't engage him in controversy . Quick , quick ! '' he added to the gondoliers , glancing at the receding shore , and then at the first of the lagoon forts which they were approaching .