about nine o'clock
Watson called him aside , and they talked together for a few minutes . `` All right , '' said the reporter , turning away from him , `` much obliged , Hank ; I believe you 've struck it . '' Watson was leader now , and I followed him toward Front Street , near the river . He said that Hank , the barkeeper , had told him that Trescott had been in his saloon about nine o'clock , drinking heavily ; and from the company he was in , it was to be suspected that he would be steered into a joint down on the river front . We passed through an alley , and down a back basement stairway , came to a door , on which Watson confidently knocked , and which was opened by a negro who let us in as soon as he saw the reporter . The air was sickening with an odor which I then perceived for the first time , and which Watson called the dope smell . There was an indefinable horror about the place , which so repelled me that nothing but my obligation could have held me there .