Nine o'clock
`` The Time Department : but never mind ; I will explain all that in its proper place . We will get a pocket-diary as we go along . '' We walked to the hotel , and on the way Sheep slipped into an office of some kind and handed me a pocket-diary of the regulation type . As we entered the hotel , which was a very small affair , -- evidently the number of foreigners in Bridgetown at any one time could not be more than a dozen if they were all lodged here , -- he popped his head into a sort of box-office near the door and said in a loud voice , `` Nine o'clock . National Councillor Ming . '' A girl in the box-office echoed the words whilst making an entry on a large sheet , and handed him a buff-coloured sheet of cardboard , divided or ruled into small squares . This he presented to me , telling me to note down on it the exact time when I entered and left the hotel , and to get it initialed every other day by the girl clerk in the box-office .