eleven o'clock
`` I ask for the swiftest messenger of this Den who can ride till dawn . '' The man whom Doctor Cameron had already chosen stepped forward : `` Carry my summons to the Grand Titan of the adjoining province in North Carolina whom you will find at Hambright . Tell him the story of this crime and what you have seen and heard . Ask him to report to me here the second night from this , at eleven o'clock , with six Grand Giants from his adjoining counties , each accompanied by two hundred picked men . In olden times when the Chieftain of our people summoned the clan on an errand of life and death , the Fiery Cross , extinguished in sacrificial blood , was sent by swift courier from village to village . This call was never made in vain , nor will it be to-night , in the new world . Here , on this spot made holy ground by the blood of those we hold dearer than life , I raise the ancient symbol of an unconquered race of men -- '' High above his head in the darkness of the cave he lifted the blazing emblem -- `` The Fiery Cross of old Scotland 's hills !