eight o'clock
I asked . `` Yes , '' he replied quickly . `` Call up and find out about the trains to Briar Lake , Walter . '' I found that we could easily get a train that would have us at the Country Club not later than eight o'clock , and as I turned to tell Kennedy , I saw him carefully packing into a case a peculiar shaped flask which he had been using in some of his experiments . Outside it had a felt jacket , and as we hurried over to the station Kennedy carried it carefully in the case by a handle . The ride out to Briar Lake seemed interminable , but it was better than going up in a car at night , and Mrs. Ferris met us anxiously at the station . Thus , early in the evening , in the little reception room of the Country Club , there gathered a large party , not the largest it had seen , but certainly the most interested .