eight o'clock
His eyes rested once more upon the letter : `` He is going out to you on the boat that carries this letter . '' If so , then he must have already landed and would appear at any moment . For the mailboat must have come in last night , and the passengers had either been put ashore last evening , or had been put ashore at sunrise , supposing the boat remained discharging cargo all night . It was now eight o'clock . The youth should have been here . Apparently , then , he had failed to catch this boat , and was coming the following week . But the Bishop was troubled ; he must go into town and make sure .