About nine o'clock
He was so cheerful and happy that McGuffey , taking advantage of the situation , argued him into some minor repairs to the engine . The work was so far advanced by midnight Sunday that Scraggs realized he would get to sea by Tuesday noon , so he dismissed Gibney and McGuffey and ordered them home for some needed sleep . McGuffey 's heart was with the _ Maggie 's _ internal economy , however , and on Monday morning he was up betimes , leaving Mr. Gibney to snore blissfully until eight o'clock . About nine o'clock , as Mr. Gibney was on his way to the Marigold Café for breakfast , he was mildly interested , while passing the Embarcadero warehouse , to note the presence of fully a dozen seedy-looking gentlemen of undoubted Hebraic antecedents , congregated in a circle just outside the warehouse door . There was an air of suppressed excitement about this group of Jews that aroused Mr. Gibney 's curiosity ; so he decided to cross over and investigate , being of the opinion that possibly one of their number had fallen in a fit . He had once had an epileptic shipmate and was peculiarly expert in the handling of such cases . Now , if the greater portion of Mr. Gibney 's eventful career had not been spent at sea , he would have known , by the red flag that floated over the door , that a public auction was about to take place , and that the group of Hebrew gentlemen constituted an organization known as the Forty Thieves , whose business it was to dominate the bidding at all auctions , frighten off , or buy off , or outbid all competitors , and eventually gather unto themselves , at their own figures , all goods offered for sale .