one o'clock
Bligh was thoughtful for a while , then he took a spool of black linen thread from a drawer in his wardrobe . He tied one end of the thread to the door-knob of the office and carried the thread overhead through the open transom of his room . He then sat in the chair by the window holding the thread hauled taut ; and Bligh sat there for the next two hours , thread in hand . At one o'clock his watchfulness was rewarded . He saw the figure of a man steal up over the terrace and across the passageway . And in the moonlight he recognized the same hat , moustache , beard and sack coat . Bligh sat perfectly still , and it was not long before the thread in his hand suddenly pulled and snapped .