nearly
eleven o'clock
Shipboard offers few avenues of escape to the man seeking to avoid another . So it came that Bull found himself sipping a brandy , reputed to be one hundred years old , over his coffee after dinner , while Aylin P. Cantor told him the story of how it came into his possession at something far below its market value . Later , again , while the auction pool was being sold , he found himself ensconced on a lounge in a far corner of the smokeroom beside his fellow craftsman , still listening chiefly , and absorbing fact and anecdote pertaining to a successful lumberman 's life . And it was nearly eleven o'clock , and the pool had been sold , and the bulk of the occupants of the smoking-room were contemplating their last rubber of Auction Bridge , when the busy-minded westerner consented to abandon his particular venue for a brief contemplation of the despised East . `` Oh , I guess there 's money in your territory , too , '' he condescended at last . `` I ai n't a word to say against the stuff I 've heard tell of Labrador . But you 're froze up more 'n ha ' f the year .