half past nine in the morning
`` Next time perhaps we 'll have better luck . Something 'll turn up for sure . '' Something was always turning up in those days , and the yacht had not indeed got its coal on board in Gibraltar harbour when a message came which sent Hillyard in a rush by train through Madrid to Barcelona . He reached Barcelona at half past nine in the morning , took his breakfast by the window of the smaller dining-room in the hotel at the corner of the Plaza Cataluña , and by eleven was seated in a flat in one of the neighbouring streets . The flat was occupied by Lopez Baeza who turned from the window to greet him . `` I was not followed , '' said Hillyard as he put down his hat and stick . Habit had bred in him a vigilance , or rather an instinct which quickly made him aware of any who shadowed him .