about two o'clock in
the morning
The war between the old rivals , the Hep Sing Tong and the On Leong Tong , those ancient societies of troublemakers in the little district , had broken out afresh during the day and three Orientals had been killed already . It is not a particularly pleasant occupation cruising aimlessly up and down the harbour in a fifty-foot police boat , staunch and fast as she may be . Every hour we called at a police post to report and to keep in touch with anything that might interest us . It came at about two o'clock in the morning and of all places , near the Battery itself . From the front of a ferry boat that ran far down on the Brooklyn side , what looked like two flashlights gleamed out over the water once , then twice . `` Headlights of an automobile , '' remarked Craig , scarcely taking more notice of it , for they might have simply been turned up and down twice by a late returning traveller to test them . We were ourselves near the Brooklyn shore .