two in the morning
Laugh ? -- I thought I should ha ' died When I knocked 'em in the old Kent Road . '' It was the Admiral 's gig , rowing softly , that came into the midst of that merry little smoking-concert . It was Judson , the beribboned mandolin round his neck , who received the Admiral as he came up the side of the `` Guadala '' , and it may or may not have been the Admiral who stayed till two in the morning and delighted the hearts of the Captain and the Governor . He had come as an unbidden guest , and he departed as an honoured one , but strictly unofficial throughout . Judson told his tale next day in the Admiral 's cabin as well as he could in the face of the Admiral 's gales of laughter , but the most amazing tale was that told by Mr. Davies to his friends in the dockyard at Simon 's Town from the point of view of a second-class engine-room artificer , all unversed in diplomacy . And if there be no truth either in my tale , which is Judson 's tale , or the tale of Mr. Davies , you will not find in harbour at Simon 's Town to-day a flat-bottomed twin-screw gunboat , designed solely for the defence of rivers , about two hundred and seventy tons ' displacement and five feet draught , wearing in open defiance of the rules of the Service a gold line on her gray paint .