twenty-two minutes to eight
`` I 'm a-vaitin ' , sir . '' `` What for , man ? '' `` Hush , sir , and you 'll soon -- '' The word was lost in a strange , sudden , double concussion of sound . `` At ex-actly twenty-two minutes to eight , sir ! '' said Mr. Shrig , and rising to his feet , set off briskly along the path . We had almost reached the wood I have mentioned when Mr. Shrig raised his knobbed stick to point at something that sprawled grotesquely across the path . The hat had fallen and rolled away and staring down into the horror of this face fouled with blood and blackened with powder , I recognised the features of Captain Danby .