about four o'clock in the
afternoon
And there 's not much in that , I fancy I can hear you saying . Well , that may be so , I do n't deny it , but it was nevertheless through that that I became mixed up with the folk who figure in this book , and indeed it was to that very circumstance , and that alone , I owe my connection with the queer story I have set myself to tell . And this is how it came about . Three days before the steamer sailed , and about four o'clock in the afternoon , I chanced to be walking down Castlereagh Street , wondering what on earth I should do with myself until dinner-time , when I saw approaching me the very man whose discomfiture I have just described . Being probably occupied planning the plucking of some unfortunate new chum , he did not see me . And as I had no desire to meet him again , after what had passed between us , I crossed the road and meandered off in a different direction , eventually finding myself located on a seat in the Domain , lighting a cigarette and looking down over a broad expanse of harbour . One thought led to another , and so I sat on and on long after dusk had fallen , never stirring until a circumstance occurred on a neighbouring path that attracted my attention .