about nine o'clock
And then little Pierce , who had helped to raise and carry the stricken woman to her room , suddenly darted out on the gallery and ran along to the door he had closed four hours earlier . It was open . Striking a match , he hurried through into the chamber beyond , and there , face downward upon the bed , lay his friend and comrade Waring , moaning like one in the delirium of fever . Lieutenant Reynolds was seated at his desk at department head-quarters about nine o'clock that morning when an orderly in light-battery dress dismounted at the banquette and came up the stairs three at a jump . `` Captain Cram 's compliments , sir , and this is immediate , '' he reported , as he held forth a note . Reynolds tore it open , read it hastily through , then said , `` Go and fetch me a cab quick as you can , '' and disappeared in the general 's room . Half an hour later he was spinning down the levee towards the French Market , and before ten o'clock was seated in the captain 's cabin of the big British steamer Ambassador , which had arrived at her moorings during the night .