six o'clock
`` Well , miss , buy their hair , and you will not lose your time . '' `` That is exactly what Holmes-Holme of London will do as soon as we have exhausted the capillary stock of the Celestial Empire . '' And thereupon the pair left us . I then suggested to Major Noltitz -- it was six o'clock -- to dine at Merv , before the departure of the train . He consented , but he was wrong to consent . An ill-fortune took us to the Hotel Slav , which is very inferior to our dining car -- at least as regards its bill of fare . It contained , in particular , a national soup called `` borchtch , '' prepared with sour milk , which I would carefully refrain from recommending to the gourmets of the _ Twentieth Century _ .