three in
the morning
It was a very wet night , and I remember that we sang ` Auld Lang Syne ' with our feet in the Polo Championship Cup , and our heads among the stars , and swore that we were all dear friends . Then some of us went away and annexed Burma , and some tried to open up the Soudan and were opened up by Fuzzies in that cruel scrub outside Suakim , and some found stars and medals , and some were married , which was bad , and some did other things which were worse , and the others of us stayed in our chains and strove to make money on insufficient experiences . Fleete began the night with sherry and bitters , drank champagne steadily up to dessert , then raw , rasping Capri with all the strength of whisky , took Benedictine with his coffee , four or five whiskies and sodas to improve his pool strokes , beer and bones at half-past two , winding up with old brandy . Consequently , when he came out , at half-past three in the morning , into fourteen degrees of frost , he was very angry with his horse for coughing , and tried to leapfrog into the saddle . The horse broke away and went to his stables ; so Strickland and I formed a Guard of Dishonour to take Fleete home . Our road lay through the bazaar , close to a little temple of Hanuman , the Monkey-god , who is a leading divinity worthy of respect . All gods have good points , just as have all priests .