ten o'clock
The police said cheer up -- nothing like that , with the country as safe as a church . But we went over to this Blackhanders ' construction camp , just the same , to make sure , and none of the men was missing , the boss said , and no children had been seen ; and anyway his men was ordinary decent wops and not Blackhanders -- and blamed if about fifty of 'em did n't turn out to help look ! Yes , sir , there they was -- foreigners to the last man except the boss , who was Irish -- and acting just like human beings . `` It was near ten o'clock now ; so we went to a country saloon to telephone police headquarters , and they had found the car conductor , he remembering because he had threatened to put the boy scout off the car if he did n't quit pointing his gun straight at an old man with gold spectacles setting across the aisle . And finally they had got off themselves about three miles down the road ; he 'd watched 'em climb over a stone wall and start up a hill into some woods that was there . And he was Conductor Number Twenty-seven , if we wanted to know that . `` We beat it to that spot after I 'd powdered my nose and we 'd had a quick round of drinks .