ten o'clock
`` I believe I 'll take a run over to Paris , '' he thought . `` I must be home again by Saturday , to meet the Demon , so I 'll have to make every day count . '' Without waiting for breakfast , since he had eaten a tablet the evening before , he crept through the window and mounted into the fresh morning air until the great city with its broad waterway lay spread out beneath him . Then he sped away to the southeast and , crossing the channel , passed between Amiens and Rouen and reached Paris before ten o'clock . Near the outskirts of the city appeared a high tower , upon the flat roof of which a man was engaged in adjusting a telescope . Upon seeing Rob , who was passing at no great distance from this tower , the man cried out : Then he waved his hands frantically in the air , and fairly danced with excitement .