three o'clock
Another lamp hung from the companion hatch to light the tenants to the lower deck , whence he descended . This deck was divided fore and aft by a partitioned passage , -- the lofts or apartments being lighted from the ports , and one or two by a door cut through the ship 's side communicating with an alley on either side . This was the case with the loft occupied by Mr. Nott 's strange lodger , which , besides a door in the passage , had this independent communication with the alley . Nott had never known him to make use of the latter door ; on the contrary , it was his regular habit to issue from his apartment at three o'clock every afternoon , dressed as he has been described , stride deliberately through the passage to the upper deck and thence into the street , where his strange figure was a feature of the principal promenade for two or three hours , returning as regularly at eight o'clock to the ship and the seclusion of his loft . Mr. Nott paused before the door , under the pretense of throwing the light before him into the shadows of the forecastle : all was silent within . He was turning back when he was impressed by the regular recurrence of a peculiar rustling sound which he had at first referred to the rubbing of the wires of the swinging lantern against his clothing . He set down the light and listened ; the sound was evidently on the other side of the partition ; the sound of some prolonged , rustling , scraping movement , with regular intervals .