ten o'clock
When man has lifted his arm in defiance of Tradition and Law , this impulse is the dominant force which sweeps all else as chaff before it . John Brown was the apostle of the sternest faith ever developed in the agonies of our history . To him life had always been a horror . There was no hesitation , no halting , no quiver of maudlin pity , when he slowly rose from his grass-covered lair in the darkness and called his men at ten o'clock : `` Ready ! '' Single file , moving silently and swiftly they crept through the night , only the sharpened swords clanking occasionally broke the silence . Their tread was soft as the claws of panthers . The leader 's spirit gripped mind and body of his followers .