twelve o'clock
We had brought some grub with us and a bottle of grog , half of which we finished before we started out to spend the evening . We hobbled the horses out and let them have an hour 's picking . They were likely to want all they could get before they saw the Hollow again . It was near twelve o'clock when we mounted . Starlight said -- ` By Jove , boys , it 's a pity we did n't belong to a troop of irregular horse instead of this rotten colonial Dick Turpin business , that one ca n't help being ashamed of . They would have been delighted to have recruited the three of us , as we ride , and our horses are worth best part of ten thousand rupees . What a tent-pegger Rainbow would have made , eh , old boy ? '