midnight
St. George had settled down there to rest and get away from his troubles ; that was why he had not answered Pawson 's letters . Striding along with his alert , springing step , he swung through the deserted and unguarded Marsh Market , picked his way between the piles of produce and market carts , and plunging down a narrow street leading to the wharf , halted before a door over which swung a lantern burning a green light . Here he entered . Although it was now near midnight , there were still eight or ten seafaring men in the room -- several of them members of his own crew aboard the Mohican . Two were playing checkers , the others crowded about a square table where a game of cards was in progress ; wavy lines of tobacco smoke floated beneath the dingy ceiling ; at one end was a small bar where a man in a woollen shirt was filling some short , thick tumblers from an earthen jug . It was the ordinary sailors ' retreat where the men put up before , between , and after their voyages . One of them at the card-table looked up from his game as Harry entered , and called out : `` Man been lookin ' for you -- comin ' back , he says .