Twelve o'clock
`` I 'm sure of that . I tried to know him , and we do n't get on badly as speaking acquaintance . But he seems a queer , solitary bird . '' Twelve o'clock struck ; so Tom wished the Captain good night and departed , meditating much on what he had heard and seen . The vision of terrible single combats , in which the descendant of a hundred earls polishes off the huge representative of the masses in the most finished style , without a scratch on his own aristocratic features , had faded from his mind . He went to bed that night , fairly sickened with his experience of a town and gown row , and with a nasty taste in his mouth . But he felt much pleased at having drawn out the Captain so completely .