noon
Every door in the hamlet was chalked by the ground-officer , in token of a formal warning to remove at next term . Still , however , they showed no symptoms either of submission or of compliance . At length the term-day , the fatal Martinmas , arrived , and violent measures of ejection were resorted to . A strong posse of peace-officers , sufficient to render all resistance vain , charged the inhabitants to depart by noon ; and , as they did not obey , the officers , in terms of their warrant , proceeded to unroof the cottages , and pull down the wretched doors and windows -- a summary and effectual mode of ejection still practised in some remote parts of Scotland when a tenant proves refractory . The gipsies for a time beheld the work of destruction in sullen silence and inactivity ; then set about saddling and loading their asses , and making preparations for their departure . These were soon accomplished , where all had the habits of wandering Tartars ; and they set forth on their journey to seek new settlements , where their patrons should neither be of the quorum nor custos rotulorum . Certain qualms of feeling had deterred Ellangowan from attending in person to see his tenants expelled .