midnight
`` After that chap ! '' exclaimed Hawke , addressing the chauffeur ; `` that motor-cyclist who has just passed . Ten pounds if you overhaul and stop him . '' It was the bright moonlight that had tempted Ramblethorne to go for a midnight ride . He was a keen out-of-door man . He could handle almost any make of car or motor-cycle with the utmost skill . Finding himself at Shrewsbury , he hired a motor-cycle from an agent , intending to have a run along the road following the banks of the Severn as far as Ironbridge .