midnight
And Duncan shut off the telegraph instrument and devoted himself to the preparation of his letter of demand . It should be explained that the young man was not `` making a bluff '' -- in the figurative phrase of that time and country -- when he telegraphed in this way to the General Freight Agent . He had his facts well in hand . As soon as Davidson 's intimation had come to him to the effect that the railroad officials were `` standing in '' with the proprietors of the Quentin mine , he had telegraphed for Joe Arnold to come to him by a train that would arrive at midnight . Joe Arnold was a detective of rare gifts and , incidentally , a reporter on a Chicago newspaper . Captain Will Hallam often had occasion to employ Joe , and thus Duncan had come into acquaintance with the young man 's peculiar abilities for finding out things . Joe Arnold had an innocent , incurious , almost stupid countenance that suggested a chronic desire for sleep rather than any more alert characteristic .