eleven o'clock at
night
When he spoke again it was of a matter entirely irrelevant . `` I had an odd experience the other evening , '' he said . `` I had been dining with the Raymers and was walking back to Shawnee Street . A little newsboy named Johnnie Fergus turned up from somewhere at one of the street crossings and tried to sell me a paper -- at eleven o'clock at night ! I bought one and joked him about being out so late ; and from that on I could n't get rid of him . He went all the way home with me , talking a blue streak and acting as if he were afraid of something or somebody . I remembered afterward that he is the boy who takes care of your boat .