about eight o'clock
That was the last he saw . Then Mrs. Doyle came in mad , and demanded her husband , and they found him reeling about the dark court , swearing and muttering , and Dawson and she took him off between them . This must have been before eleven o'clock ; and that was absolutely all he knew . Then Mr. Allerton had told his story again , without throwing the faintest light on the proceedings ; and the hack-driver was found , and frankly and fully told his : that Lascelles and another gentleman hired him about eight o'clock to drive them down to the former 's place , which they said was several squares above the barracks . He said that he would have to charge them eight dollars such a night anywhere below the old cotton-press , where the pavement ended . But then they had delayed starting nearly an hour , and took another gentleman with them , and when driven by the storm to shelter at the Pelican saloon , three squares below where the pavement ended , and he asked for his money , saying he dare go no farther in the darkness and the flood , the Frenchman would n't pay , because he had n't taken them all the way . He pointed out that he had to bring another gentleman and had to wait a long time , and demanded his eight dollars .