nine o'clock
`` Not the least bit in the world , Mrs. O'Halloran . Fortunately , I know that , however hard you are upon me , you do n't mean what you say . '' `` I do mean it , very much ; but after you are gone I say to myself , ` It is only Teddy Burke , ' and think no more of it . '' That evening , at nine o'clock , Bob embarked on board the fishing boat , at the New Mole . One of the governor 's aides-de-camp accompanied him , to pass him through all the guards ; and orders had been sent , to the officers in command of the various batteries , that the boat was not to be challenged . It was to show a light from a lantern , as it went along , in order that it might be known . The other two passengers and the boatmen had been sitting there since before gunfire , and they were glad enough when Bob came down and took his seat in the stern , taking the tiller ropes .