half after nine
I glanced at my watch . It was now nine . The preliminary bouts would be beginning , but I had no interest in these . I walked down town , purposely delaying my steps , but found my footsteps hurrying in spite of me , and it was only half after nine when I entered the building . I remembered a six-day bicycle race that I had witnessed there years ago , but I was not prepared for the sight of the crowd that had gathered under the enormous roof . The match had been well advertised and the article in the _ Despatch _ must have lent an added spice to the attraction . The heated air was already a blue fog of tobacco smoke , through which beyond the glare of the ring , tiny spots of light flared and disappeared like glow-worms -- where in the gallery the smokers lighted their tobacco .