three minutes past three
Hood thought it was good stuff , although at the same time he knew , of course , that it was rot . He was a practical man of little imagination , and , though the detective did not interest him particularly , he liked the scientific part of the stories . He was thrifty , of Scotch-Irish descent , and at two minutes past three had never had an adventure in his life . At three minutes past three he began his career as one of the celebrities of the world . As the minute hand of the official clock dropped into its slot somebody called the Naval Observatory . The call was so faint as to be barely audible , in spite of the fact that Hood 's instrument was tuned for a three-thousand-metre wave . Supposing quite naturally that the person calling had a shorter wave , he gradually cut out the inductance of his receiver ; but the sound faded out entirely , and he returned to his original inductance and shunted in his condenser , upon which the call immediately increased in volume .