seven o'clock
It , too , was in the nature of a canal , but only in embryo at the point I touched it , south of Nesse . Works on a deviation were in progress , and in a short digression down stream I sighted another lighter-building yard . As for Hilgenriedersiel , the fourth of the seven , I had no time to see anything of it at all . At seven o'clock I was at Hage Station , very tired , wet , and footsore , after covering nearly twenty miles all told since I left my bed in the lighter . From here to Norden it was a run in the train of ten minutes , which I spent in eating some rye bread and smoked eel , and in scraping the mud off my boots and trousers . Fatigue vanished when the train drew up at the station , and the momentous twenty-eight minutes began to run their course . Having donned a bulky muffler and turned up the collar of my pea-jacket , I crossed over immediately to the up-platform , walked boldly to the booking-office , and at once sighted -- von Brüning -- yes , von Brüning in mufti ; but there was no mistaking his tall athletic figure , pleasant features , and neat brown beard .