Twelve o'clock
We 'll go there and take rooms and wait for something to turn up . '' So , in spite of the protests of Captain Martin , the change was made , and late that night Ned awoke to find himself sitting up on the edge of his bed , automatic in hand , listening to the steady boring of a tool of some sort around the lock of his door ! When Ned heard the assaults of the midnight visitor on his door he looked at his watch , then slipped over to the window facing the street . Twelve o'clock and the thoroughfare below still teeming with life . Peking has something over three millions of population , according to the records , but , as a matter of fact , no one knows the exact size of the town as to humanity , for the Chinese live in densely-packed districts , and there are no census reports given out . The city is many centuries old . It was a thriving capital three thousand years before Christ was born and during all the years of war and starvation and intrigue it continued to grow .