about one o'clock
It was well that these precautions were adopted ; for when he and Julius were safe in the woods they looked back and saw about twenty mounted men enter the yard and surround the house . They were the Home Guards , and had been sent there by Beardsley and Shelby , who knew that Marcy would be sure to visit his mother on his return from Plymouth . They were in the house half an hour or more , but went away as empty-handed as they came . `` That means the loss of more property for you , Captain Beardsley , '' said Marcy to himself : and when the other refugees heard of it they said the same thing , and vowed to make their words good that very night ; but , about one o'clock that afternoon , one of the paroled prisoners came into camp with the information that he had barely escaped falling into the hands of a squad of Federal cavalry who were raiding the settlement , and that Beardsley and Shelby were being punished already for the rows they had kicked up in the neighborhood . `` I was hid in my corn-crib when the Yankees went by my house , '' said the soldier , `` and the feller in command of 'em was the same chap I seed with 'em once before . They had scooped in as many as a dozen of the meanest of the Home Guards , Beardsley and Shelby amongst 'em , and were taking 'em off Plymouth way . My old hat riz on my head when I heard Beardsley tell the Yankee cap'n that if he 'd go into my house he 'd ketch a rebel soldier in there , but that there Yankee cap'n ` lowed that he knowed what he was doing , and that he was n't hunting no paroled prisoners .