about one o'clock in the morning
He knew that he would have to deal with the richest and most avaricious of sharpers : that was why he assumed the cavalier tone that may have seemed strange to more than one reader in the preceding chapter . Unhappily , he let himself become a little too human as soon as he had his million in his pocket . A curiosity to investigate the long yellow bottles all the way to the bottom , came near doing him an ugly turn . His reason wandered , about one o'clock in the morning , if I am to believe the account he himself gave . He said that , after saying `` good night '' to the excellent people who had treated him so well , he tumbled into a large and deep well , whose rim was hardly raised above the level of the street , and ought at least to have had a lamp by it . `` I came to '' -LRB- it is still he speaking -RRB- `` in water , very fresh and of a pleasant taste . After swimming around a minute or two , looking for a firm place to take hold of , I seized a big rope , and climbed without any trouble to the surface of the earth , which was not more than forty feet off .