five o'clock
An elaborate system of watches , therefore , had been arranged , by which one of the three had been on guard continuously since three o'clock . It was Jack who had had the privilege -LRB- if he had but known it -RRB- of observing Mr. Partington himself returning home to his family for Christmas , and it was Dick , who came on guard about five , who had seen the Major -- or , rather , what was to him merely a shabby and excited man -- leave and then return to the `` Queen 's Arms '' during his hour 's watch . * * * * * After the amazing and shocking news , however , of the accident to Lord Talgarth and Archie , the precautions had been doubled . It was the clergyman who had first bought an evening paper soon after five o'clock , and within five minutes the other two knew it also . It is of no good to try to describe the effect it had on their minds , beyond saying that it made all three of them absolutely resolute that Frank should by no possible means escape them . The full dramatic situation of it all they scarcely appreciated , though it soaked more and more into them gradually as they waited -- two of them in the Men 's Club just round the corner , and the third , shivering and stamping , under the arch . -LRB- An unemployed man , known to the clergyman , had been set as an additional sentry on the steps of the Men 's Club , whose duty it would be , the moment the signal was given from the arch that Frank was coming , to call the other two instantly from inside .