2 o'clock
I succeeded ; but it took three ten-cent cigars to do it . The reason I call the town Albany is because that is not its name , and I may as well say here that as I write about actual incidents I do n't propose to `` lay myself liable '' by giving the name of any town or any dealer . If I call him Smith it will naturally follow that he was not Smith . If Albany had been a hundred or more miles away I would have taken a berth in the sleeper , but we were due there at 2 o'clock , so I dozed and nodded and swore to myself during the two hours ' ride . I wanted to get there , but I dreaded it , too . Stories I had heard traveling men tell about poor beds , mean men , dirty food , and unprincipled competitors all came back to me in a distorted fashion , and if I did n't have a nightmare I must have experienced a slight touch of delirium tremens . `` How much of a town is Albany ? ''