two o'clock
I revised my first intention of going to the club , and bought a sandwich or two at the corner coffee house . I do n't know why , but even then the affair seemed big with mystery , with the portent of tragedy . Perhaps the smell of tar was in my nostrils and the sea called . It has always possessed for me an extraordinary allurement -- A little after two o'clock a cab drove to the after gangplank and stopped . From it alighted a young man of whom I shall later have occasion to tell you more , followed by Dr. Schermerhorn . The young man carried only a light leather `` serviette , '' such as students use abroad ; while the doctor fairly staggered under the weight of a square , brass-bound chest without handles . The singularity of this unequal division of labour struck me at once .