midnight
A short , stoutish man , with a long red face , was smoking a cigarette and watching some mechanics working at a monoplane . The little man was Davanne himself , the famous airman . Don Luis took him aside and , knowing from the papers the sort of man that he was , opened the conversation so as to surprise him from the start : `` Monsieur , '' he said , unfolding his map of France , `` I want to catch up some one who has carried off the woman I love and is making for Nantes by motor . The abduction took place at midnight . It is now about eight o'clock . Suppose that the motor , which is just a hired taxi with a driver who has no inducement to break his neck , does an average of twenty miles an hour , including stoppages -- in twelve hours ' time -- that is to say , at twelve o'clock -- our man will have covered two hundred and forty miles and reached a spot between Angers and Nantes , at this point on the map . '' `` Les Ponts-de-Drive , '' agreed Davanne , who was quietly listening .