about midnight
He had had enough to drink to turn nasty after the sixth game , and make some scornful remark at Jim 's expense . Most of the people there did n't hear what was said , and those who had heard seemed to have had all precise recollection scared out of them by the appalling nature of the consequences that immediately ensued . It was very lucky for the Dane that he could swim , because the room opened on a verandah and the Menam flowed below very wide and black . A boat-load of Chinamen , bound , as likely as not , on some thieving expedition , fished out the officer of the King of Siam , and Jim turned up at about midnight on board my ship without a hat . `` Everybody in the room seemed to know , '' he said , gasping yet from the contest , as it were . He was rather sorry , on general principles , for what had happened , though in this case there had been , he said , `` no option . '' But what dismayed him was to find the nature of his burden as well known to everybody as though he had gone about all that time carrying it on his shoulders .