about 2 A.M.
And with that he left me to as merry and withal as nervous a three hours as I ever spent in my life . Raffles had indeed filled that talking-machine -- thirteen full cylinders of it -- with as choice an assortment of causeries and humorous anecdotes as any one could have wished to hear . Now and again it would bid me cheer up and not worry about him . Once , along about 2 A.M. , it cried out : `` You ought to see me now , Jenkins . I 'm right in the middle of this Grouch job , and it 's a dandy . I 'll teach _ him _ a lesson . '' The effect of all this was most uncanny .