one o'clock
`` Alick , '' said the father , `` after all the notices we have got , and considering the feeling that is against us , it is ridiculous to be fool-hardy -- do n't go by the road but cross the fields . '' `` Such is my intention , sir , '' replied Alick ; `` for although no coward , still I am but flesh and blood , and it is death you know , for mere flesh and blood to stop a bullet . Give me my enemy face to face and I do n't fear him , but when he takes me at night from behind a hedge , courage is of little use , and wo n't save my life . '' On arriving at O'Driscol 's , he found that M'Carthy had not come , and after waiting till one o'clock , he prepared to take his departure . At this moment , a female servant tapped at the drawing-room door , and after having been desired to come in , she communicated the following startling particulars : -- She had forgotten her washing , she said , and gone out a little time before to bring it in , and in doing so , she spied several men with black faces and white shirts skulking about the house . She was not sure , she said , on having the question put to her , whether she had been seen by them or not . This communication , which was given with every mark of alarm and terror , completely altered the posture of affairs at the magistrate 's .