about 9 o'clock
Then he took Howard on a thorough inspection of the house , from cellar to roof . They poked into cupboards , turned over mattresses , peeped into bureau drawers and boxes and a score of other articles too small to have hidden anything human . But nary a sign was there of ghost , burglar or joker . `` It beats the devil , '' again remarked the Sergeant as he and Howard , perspiringly hot , left the house about 9 o'clock . The following morning the papers were full of it . Southwest Baltimore no longer mortgaged the new sensation . All Baltimore discussed it and speculated what it might be .