ten o'clock
`` I take my precautions , '' said he . `` Who knows what the dining-car kitchen will give us on the Chinese railways ? Let us beware of shark fins , which may perhaps be rather horny , and of swallows ' nests which may not be quite fresh ! '' It is ten o'clock when a stroke of the gong announces that the police formalities are about to begin . We leave the table after a parting glass of Choa-Hing wine , and a few minutes afterward are in the waiting room . All my numbers are present , with the exception , of course , of Kinko , who would have done honor to our breakfast if it had been possible for him to take part in it . There was Doctor Tio-King , his _ Cornaro _ under his arm ; Fulk Ephrinell and Miss Horatia Bluett , mingling their teeth and hair , figuratively , be it understood ; Sir Francis Trevellyan , motionless and silent , intractable and stiff , smoking his cigar on the threshold ; Faruskiar , accompanied by Ghangir ; Russian , Turkoman , Chinese travelers -- in all from sixty to eighty persons .