about midnight
He knew the cable company always telephoned to Mr. Skinner , at his home , all Blue Star and Ricks Lumber & Logging messages arriving after office hours and before midnight . Naturally Skinner could be depended upon to have a copy of the code at home , and if he did n't Murphy knew he would rush down to the office , no matter what the hour , and decode it there . Of course he would cable his reply immediately , in which event it might be that the captain would have an answer shortly after midnight or by breakfast at the latest . He decided , therefore , to return to the cable office about midnight and await the reply to his cablegram . He had proceeded but a few blocks from the cable office , however , before a disturbing thought struck him with such force as to bring him to an abrupt pause . _ His owners had cabled him in care of von Staden & Ulrich , when in the telegram sent just before sailing from Norfolk he had instructed them to cable him in care of the American consul . _ Murphy 's native shrewdness had made him suspicious of von Staden the instant the latter had so nonchalantly offered him a bribe of five thousand dollars , for the proffer of a bribe of that magnitude , without any preliminary bargaining , did not co-ordinate with Michael 's idea of business .