ten o'clock
He listened patiently and with evident satisfaction to the boy 's statements , and then took him to the headquarters of the colonel commanding the post ; leaving Hanson , who would have been dull indeed if he had not realized by this time that he was in the worst scrape of his life , to the care of the provost marshal . When Marcy turned to look at him as he left the marshal 's office , he told himself that Hanson was in a fair way to see the inside of a Northern prison pen . He had not talked with the colonel more than five minutes before the latter became aware that Marcy could tell him the very things he most wished to know regarding the condition of the Union people who lived outside his lines . Almost every statement he made was reduced to writing by one of the orderlies , and when the interview was ended at ten o'clock that night , Marcy received the thanks of the commandant and the assurance that the Home Guards should be scattered or captured without loss of time , and his home made a safe place for him to live . Captain Burrows offered to take good care of him and his servant if he would remain all night , but Marcy was so anxious to tell his mother the good news that he thought he had better start for home at once ; so he was given the countersign , and a pass commanding all guards and patrols to permit him to enter or leave the lines at any hour of the day or night , and Captain Burrows furnished him with a generous lunch and went with him to his boat to see him off . `` Good-by , Marcy , but not for long , '' said he . `` If I have any influence with the colonel , I shall be riding around in your neighborhood to-morrow afternoon ; and when this cruel war is over , I am coming down here on purpose to go quail-shooting with you . ''