eleven o'clock
He closed the book with a long sigh , sat upon his bed for half an hour and then went back to the pine table , took out from the débris of one of the drawers a bottle of ink , a pen and some notepaper and wrote laboriously and carefully , ending the seven or eight lines of writing with a very respectable representation of a skull and cross-bones . When he had finished , he drew an envelope toward him and sat looking at it for five minutes . He scratched his head and he scratched his chin and laid down his pen . It was eleven o'clock , and the mess would still be sitting engaged in discussion . He put out the light and made his way across the darkened aerodrome . Blackie saw him in the anteroom , for Tam enjoyed the privilege of entrée at all times . `` His name ?