nearly three o'clock in the afternoon
`` Some fool has broken the key in the lock , '' he heard one of the servants say after trying several times to open the door . `` We may as well wait till the engineer can come up . '' Jet was rapidly losing heart . He counted the minutes , as if such a course would make the time pass more rapidly , and was so thoroughly exhausted when , at nearly three o'clock in the afternoon , the work of picking the lock was begun , that he could not have made himself heard even had the gag been removed . The engineer was not a skillful locksmith , and half an hour elapsed before the door was opened . Even then it was several moments before the bedroom stewards perceived the prisoner , and instead of unbinding him at once they ran in search of the purser . When that officer arrived Jet was released from his uncomfortable position , but his mouth was so dry and parched that he could not speak .