nine o'clock
`` Remus . '' `` Remus , Remus , '' where had I heard that name before ? But while I was reflecting he drove up before the door of the tavern . It was a dismal , sleep-forbidding place , and only nine o'clock , and here was the long winter 's night before me . Failing to get the landlord to give me a team to go further , I resigned myself to my fate and a cigar , behind the red-hot stove . In a few moments one of the loungers approached me , calling me by name , and in a rough but hearty fashion condoled with me for my mishap , advised me to stay at Remus all night , and added : `` The quarters ai n't the best in the world yer at this hotel . But thar 's an old man yer -- the preacher that was -- that for twenty years hez taken in such fellers as you and lodged 'em free gratis for nothing , and hez been proud to do it .