midnight
`` No , same rank , '' Larkin answered . `` But believe me , I 'm free to confess now that I 'd rather be a buck in Uncle Sam 's little old army than a brass hat in any other . Boy , shake ! '' Sometime after midnight , at least an hour after sleep had at last overcome McGee 's and Larkin 's joyous excitement , a sleep-shattering motor cycle again came pop-popping to their door . The dispatch bearer hammered lustily on the barred front door until admitted by the sleepy-eyed , white robed , grumbling Madame Beauchamp , and then clattered up the stairs , two steps at a time . He pounded heavily on the door of the sleeping pilots . McGee fumbled around on the table at the side of the bed , found the candle stub , and as the flaring match dispelled the shadows , called , `` Come in !