about four o'clock
`` Look at the bold , bad ex-school teacher , '' says I. `` Wonder what blood-curdlin ' mind plays he 's indulgin ' in now ? There ! He 's unlimberin ' the glasses again . '' It must have been about four o'clock , for I remember hearin ' eight bells strike and remarkin ' to Vee what a silly way that was to keep track of time . We was watchin ' Rupert go through his Columbus-discoverin ' - Staten-Island motions , and I was workin ' up some josh to hand him , when he comes rushin ' back to the wireless room . No , we did n't stretch our ears intentional , and if we sidled up under the cabin window it must have been because there was a couple of deck chairs spread out convenient . `` Is n't that some kind of warship off there ? ''