one in the morning
Perhaps it was , when he was fast asleep on his lumpy mattress with the light from a street lamp streaming into the room . He listened for the step of the policeman on night-watch , because he did not wish to be seen . There was a jutting wall where he could stand in the shadow while the man passed . A policeman would stop to look questioningly at a boy who walked up and down the pavement at half-past one in the morning . Marco could wait until he had gone by , and then come out into the light and look up and down the road and the cross streets . He heard his approaching footsteps in a few minutes , and was safely in the shadows before he could be seen . When the policeman passed , he came out and walked slowly down the road , looking on each side , and now and then looking back .