a quarter to eleven o'clock
The pistols were a farewell gift to me from dear Lady Gordon , while the sword was from Sir Robert . The gifts were accompanied by the heartfelt good wishes of the donors for my welfare , happiness , and safety in the strenuous times that seemed to be looming ahead , and the hope that the weapons would prove useful to me in my new service . They were , as will be seen from the account of my adventures , set forth in the following pages . At a quarter to eleven o'clock on the morning of December 8 , 1903 , I stepped out of a cab at Charing Cross railway station , and forthwith proceeded to get my luggage properly labelled and checked through to Marseilles . While I was doing this , I became aware of some one by my side , and , looking up , saw a little man , the formation of whose features and the colour of whose skin at once apprised me that he was a Japanese . He was dressed in a neat travelling suit of tweed , and wore a bowler hat and brown boots . He was reading my name , legibly painted on my sea chest , and as I looked at him he turned to me and bowed .