5 A.M.
He slipped the sign , `` Porter wanted in A.M. , '' from its nail and hid it beneath his coat . He tramped the block all night and , as suspicious characters always do to avoid seeming suspicious , he begged a match from a policeman who was keeping an eye on him . The policeman chatted with him about baseball and advised him to keep away from liquor and missions . At 5 A.M. Carl was standing at the saloon door . When the bartender opened it Carl bounced in , slightly dizzy , conscious of the slime of mud on his fraying trouser-ends . The saloon had an air of cheap crime and a floor covered with clotted sawdust . The bar was a slab of dark-brown wood , so worn that semicircles of slivers were showing .