the hour of nine
`` This man Higginbotham is not the chief figure in the liquor smuggling ring , '' stated Captain Folsom emphatically . Captain Folsom sat in the Temple library , with the boys grouped about him . The time was nearing ten o'clock . From the moment of his arrival , shortly after the hour of nine , he had been in conference with the boys , and they had explained to him in detail all that they had discovered or surmised about their neighbors of the old Brownell place . An army officer with a distinguished record , who had lost his left arm in the Argonne , Captain Folsom upon recovery had been given a responsible post in the prohibition enforcement forces . His was a roving commission . He was not attached permanently to the New York office , but when violations of the law at the metropolis became so flagrant as to demand especial attention , he had been sent on from Washington to assume command of a special squad of agents .