six o’clock
`` As good as any others , captain , squeaked through a reed pipe . '' `` Hold your tongue , man , '' said Servadac peremptorily ; `` I have made another couplet . ` Lovers should , whoe'er they be , Love in all simplicity ; Lover , loving honestly , Offer I myself to thee . ''' Beyond this , however , the captain 's poetical genius was impotent to carry him ; his farther efforts were unavailing , and when at six o'clock he reached the gourbi , the four lines still remained the limit of his composition . At the time of which I write , there might be seen in the registers of the Minister of War the following entry : SERVADAC -LRB- _ Hector _ -RRB- , born at St. Trelody in the district of Lesparre , department of the Gironde , July 19th , 18 -- . _ Property : _ 1200 francs in rentes . _ Length of service : _ Fourteen years , three months , and five days .