midnight
In some way he heard of Tom 's gun , and that it was likely to be so successful that it would be adopted by the United States government . This he wanted to prevent , and he went to great lengths to accomplish this . It was he , or an agent of his , who forged the letter of invitation to General Waller , and who first tried to spoil Tom 's test by doping the powder through Koku . Later he tried other means , sending a midnight visitor to Tom 's house and even going to the length of filing the cables in the storm , so the gun would roll off the warship into the sea . All this was found set down in his papers , for he kept a record of what he had done in order to prove his case to his own government . It was his servant who tried to get near the gun while it was being cast . That he would be restored to favor had he succeeded , was an open question , though with Germany 's friendliness toward the United States it is probable that his acts would have been repudiated .