two o’clock
A quarter of a mile 's walk to the garage was a sharper test of my strength than I would confess ; but when Ropes had roused the watchman , filled the good old Gloria with petrol , and started her up the hill , the rush of pure night air gave me life . At the hotel , we walked in without waking the dozing _ concièrge _ . Dick made me free of his things ; and when , between us , we had finished my toilet , he admitted that I was not as appalling an object as he had thought . He changed his wet clothes , left a note for the landlord , and it was not yet two o'clock when we started , Ropes driving , Dick with me in the tonneau . `` To Madrid , top speed , quickest way , '' was the word ; and I hoped for a non-stop run , or as near it as possible . The quickest way was by Jaen , a road which none of us knew , and the starlit sky was obscured by dark clouds which heralded a summer thunder-storm . As Ropes steered across the Vega towards that gap in the mountains which is the door of the north , there came a waterspout of rain on the roof .