Ten minutes to ten
`` Even that , if it were necessary to get the pearl , madame , '' said Cleek , with the utmost sang-froid . `` Faugh ! '' looking at his watch , `` a good twenty minutes wasted by the zealousness of those idiotic searchers of yours . Ten minutes to ten ! Just time for one brief song . Let us make hay while the sun lasts , madame , for it goes down suddenly in Mauravania ; and for some of us -- it never comes up again ! '' Then , throwing himself upon the piano-seat , he ran his fingers across the keys and broke into the stately measures of the national anthem .