five o’clock
As it might happen that his absence would be prolonged for some days , he wrote to Sir W. Elphiston , President of the Royal Institution , that he should be unable to be present at the next meeting of the Society . He also wrote to excuse himself from two or three engagements which he had made for the week . Then , having ordered his servant to pack a traveling bag , he went to bed , more excited than the affair perhaps warranted . The next day , at five o'clock , James Starr jumped out of bed , dressed himself warmly , for a cold rain was falling , and left his house in the Canongate , to go to Granton Pier to catch the steamer , which in three hours would take him up the Forth as far as Stirling . For the first time in his life , perhaps , in passing along the Canongate , he did NOT TURN TO LOOK AT HOLYROOD , the palace of the former sovereigns of Scotland . He did not notice the sentinels who stood before its gateways , dressed in the uniform of their Highland regiment , tartan kilt , plaid and sporran complete . His whole thought was to reach Callander where Harry Ford was supposedly awaiting him .