about midnight
I think I must have watched the place for three hours , but I know it was a weariful business , and I was heartsick of it . Doggedly I stuck to my post . I was beginning to think he must have evaded me , when suddenly coming forth alone from the hotel I saw my man . It was about midnight , neither light nor dark , but rather an absence of either quality , and the Northern sky was wan and ominous . In the crowded street I saw Locasto 's hat overtopping all others , so that I had no difficulty in shadowing him . Once he stopped to speak to a woman , once to light a cigar ; then he suddenly turned up a side street that ran through the red-light district . He was walking swiftly and he took a path that skirted the swamp behind the town .