ten o'clock
Accordingly , about seven o'clock , I met Woodrow at the corner of the Bridge , by the Leather Hall , and accompanied him to the Angel in Redcliffe Street , where he presented me to his friend , Captain Reddaway . After the usual jocose allusions to my height , to which I was now fairly inured , the skipper asked me a great many questions about navigation , feigned a vast surprise at my ignorance , and supplied the answers himself , to impress me , I suppose , with his own stores of knowledge . Then the two mariners settled down over their pipes and beer to a conversation in which I was not expected to take a part ; indeed , it consisted chiefly of reminiscences of voyages they had made together , and , though entertaining enough at first , by and by became insufferably tedious . For politeness ' sake they included me in the conversation from time to time by waving their pipes at me , and I did not like to risk hurting the feelings of my new employer by showing how wearied I was , or by leaving them ; so that it was not till near ten o'clock that I managed to escape , and then only because they had both fallen asleep . The night was warm , and my lungs being filled with the reek of their strong tobacco I determined to walk down by the river before returning to my lodging , in the hope of getting a breath of fresh air blowing in from the sea . The river side was deserted and silent ; the lights of the vessels at anchor increased the darkness around ; and I was walking slowly along , wondering which of the lamps hung on Captain Reddaway 's vessel , when suddenly I found myself surrounded by a group of men who seemed to have sprung from nowhere . Before I knew what was happening , much less make any movement of defence , I was being dragged by rough hands to the edge of the quay .