midnight
The weapons were to be pistols , the place the usual ground at Bladensburg , and the time the afternoon of the next day . There was a good deal of drinking and boasting at the hotels that night , Utie and Tiltock telling everybody , as a particular secret , that there was to be `` an ` fah honah , '' otherwise a `` juel , '' at `` Bladensburg , sah ! '' The gin-drinking , cock-fighting , sporting element of the town was aroused , and Utie and Tiltock were invited on all sides to imbibe to the significant toast of `` The Field . '' Very noisy , very insolent , nuisances indeed , these two mere lads -- the offspring of a vain and ignorant social period of which some elements yet remain -- borrowed the money to hire a carriage , and at midnight they set out with some associates by the old , rutty , clay road for the Maryland village of Bladensburg . That night they caroused until Nature , despite her revolt , put them to bed . In the morning , with a swollen and sallow face , dry hair , unsteady hands , aching eyes and dim vision , Robert Utie awoke to the recollection of his folly and his rashness , and he realized the critical period which he had provoked . His clerkship lost , his self-pride poignant , his pockets nearly empty , his respectable career irretrievably terminated , his sweetheart insulted , and his life in danger !