midnight
There were men among them who took no stock in such tales as ours anyhow -- hard and fast Scotch pragmatists , who doubted the sanity of any man who spoke seriously of anything that they themselves had not heard , seen , smelt , felt and tasted . Also there was one man who had been jealous of Athelstan King all his years in the service , and he jumped at the chance of obstructing him at last . After we had told our story at least twenty times , more and more men being brought in to listen to it , who only served to increase incredulity and water down belief , King saw fit to fling his even temper to the winds and try what anger could accomplish . By that time there were eighteen of us , sitting around a mahogany table at midnight , and King brought his fist down with a crash that split the table and offended the dignity of than one man . `` Confound the lot of you ! '' he thundered . `` I 've been in the service twenty-one years and I 've repeatedly brought back scores of wilder tales than this .