midnight
The same hand then grasped the nose of the spy craft and dragged it toward the shore , while the pilot of the scout boat brought his craft close beside that of the spies . Other torches flashed in the darkness , and one by one the fugitives were manacled -- Sanders , and the spy from the cliff , and the German grocer , and his errand boy , and a stranger who ran the boat . Two hours later the party was grouped around Chief Flynn , who had remained in his office to learn the result of the raid . Both motor-boats had been left in charge of the New Rochelle road-house keeper , and the entire party had returned to New York in the two motor-cars -- the secret service motor and Sanders ' car , for Sanders had left it at the road-house and slipped away into the darkness at midnight . The clerk from Hoboken was under arrest , too . He had been taken up by the man who was watching him . Sanders had eluded his shadow by leaving his car late in the afternoon , at a garage , ostensibly to have it washed , and by later leaving his house surreptitiously in the dark .