eleven o'clock
Another turn along the main passage brought them to the door , from which issued a buzz of voices . His host had prepared him to expect company , and on stepping inside this door he saw it in the shape of some twenty-five or thirty men , all in the garb of monks of the same order as Rivas himself . The room was a large one , saloon shape , with a table standing centrally , around which were benches and chairs . A cloth was spread upon it , with a multifarious and somewhat heterogeneous array of ware -- bottles and glasses being conspicuous ; for it was after eleven o'clock , and the meal _ almuerzo _ , as much dinner as breakfast . The viands were being put upon it ; three or four Indian youths , not in convent dress , passing them through a hatch that communicated with the kitchen , and from which also came a most appetising odour . All this the young Irishman took in with a sweep of his eye , which instantly after became fixed upon the friars who had faced towards him . They were standing in two or three groups , the largest gathered round an individual who towered above all of them by the head and shoulders .