about
two o'clock in the morning
He was least known to those to whom he rendered most assistance . Rarely had he thanks for it , never halfpence , but not unfrequently blows and abuse . For the last he cared nothing ; the former , owing to his great agility , seldom visited him with any directness . A certain reporter of humorous scandal , after his third tumbler , would occasionally give a graphic description of what , coming from a supper-party , he once saw about two o'clock in the morning . In the great street of the city , he overhauled a huge galleon , which proved , he declared , to be the provost himself , not exactly water-logged , and yet not very buoyant , but carrying a good deal of sail . He might possibly have escaped very particular notice , he said , but for the assiduous attendance upon him of an absurd little cock-boat , in the person of wee Gibbie -- the two reminding him right ludicrously of the story of the Spanish Armada . Round and round the bulky provost gyrated the tiny baronet , like a little hero of the ring , pitching into him , only with open-handed pushes , not with blows , now on this side and now on that -- not after such fashion of sustentation as might have sufficed with a man of ordinary size , but throwing all his force now against the provost 's bulging bows , now against his over-leaning quarter , encountering him now as he lurched , now as he heeled , until at length he landed him high , though certainly not dry , on the top of his own steps .