eight o'clock
`` Hitherto , '' said the senator , in his stateroom , to the bishop and the judge , `` there really has been no need to take any assertive step . '' He was explaining his slowness as head of the deputation and was glad , he said , to have a word apart with these two . The room could not seat seven and for the moment the other four were at the bar , where standing was so much easier than elsewhere . Their business , the seven 's , he added , was with the captain , and officially the captain had gone off duty at eight o'clock and was on again only now , at midnight , in the `` middle watch . '' Even yet there need be no hurry ; what they wanted done could not be done before early morning , at Prophet 's Island . The bishop approved . `` Do n't cross the bridge till you get to it , '' he quoted .