four o'clock
It was a vital question . His life hung on it . That keen , facile brain , numbed for the moment , was beginning to work with lightning speed . It was four o'clock that afternoon when he had assumed the character of Larry the Bat -- some time between four o'clock and the present , it was now well after eleven , the case had dropped from his pocket . There had been ample time then for Whitey Mack to have made that appointment with Lannigan -- and ample time to have made a surreptitious visit to the Sanctuary . Had Whitey Mack gone there ? Had Whitey Mack found that hiding place in the flooring under the oilcloth ?