nine o'clock
The General fortunately was alone in his private office , and when I went in he glanced up enquiringly from a railroad report he was reading . `` It 's you , Ben , is it ? '' he remarked , and went back to his paper . `` General , '' I said bluntly , and stopped short in the centre of the room , `` I want a quarter of a million dollars in cash by nine o'clock to-morrow morning . '' For a moment he sat speechless , blinking at me with his swollen eyelids , while his lower lip protruded angrily , like the lip of a crying child . Then the old war-horse in him responded gallantly to the scent of battle . `` Damn you , Ben , do you know cash is as tight as wax ? ''