Half after nine
`` It must be one of the rangers . No one would dare to light a fire while poaching on the King 's preserves . What o'clock do you make it ? '' `` Half after nine . '' And the watch was still in the speaker 's hand as he emerged from darkness into the glowing light of the fire . My father glanced at it , and saw that it was exactly like the one he had worn on entering Erewhon nearly twenty years previously . The watch , however , was a very small matter ; the dress of these two men -LRB- for there were only two -RRB- was far more disconcerting .