About nine o'clock
There was little to distinguish the proceedings from the routine of such festivals . The winners stood Champagne , and the losers drank it -- to any amount . The accidents of flood and field were discussed over and over again ; and , I believe , every man of the twenty-three who had ridden that day could and did prove , to his own entire satisfaction , that he must have won but for some freak of fortune totally unavoidable , and defying human calculation . About nine o'clock I went out with another man to get some fresh air , and something I wanted in the town . At the corner of every street there was a group of heavy , sullen faces , looking viciously ready for a row , while out of the windows of the frequent public houses gushed bursts of revelry hideously discordant , from the low-browed rooms where the wild Irish sat howling and wrangling over their liquor . However , we got what we wanted , and were returning , when , in a street on our left , we heard cries and a trampling of many feet . Two figures , looking like University men , passed us at speed , and , throwing something down before us , dived into an alley opposite , and were lost to sight .