midnight
I had been pitched into about six inches of water , and a policeman who heard the splash jumped over some rails , and cut across a private paddock in time to save me from being smothered in the mud . It is now midnight ; I have a man with me , and I am not quite so vigorous as I could wish , but my head is clear , and to-morrow there will only be the criss-cross mass of sticking-plaster to tell that I have been felled and robbed . I shall try to pay Mr. Blackey out . Meantime the police and public should remember that many men in London pick up a living by arranging humorous little midnight interviews like that which I went through . Only the professionals work on the Thames Embankment , and the `` bashed '' man , instead of going into six inches of mud , never is heard of again till his carcass is brought before the coroner . We have lately had `` sport '' brought to our very doors , and a pretty crew offered themselves for my study . In the diseased life of the city many odious human types are developed , but none are so horrible as those that crop up at sporting gatherings of various sorts .