ten at night
In like manner we departed , to find the cart at an appointed place , some half a mile beyond . The Colonel and the Major had each a word or two of English -- God help their pronunciation ! But they did well enough to order a rasher and a pot or call a reckoning ; and , to say truth , these country-folks did not give themselves the pains , and had scarce the knowledge , to be critical . About nine or ten at night the pains of hunger and cold drove us to an alehouse in the flats of Bedfordshire not far from Bedford itself . In the inn kitchen was a long , lean , characteristic-looking fellow of perhaps forty , dressed in black . He sat on a settle by the fireside , smoking a long pipe , such as they call a yard of clay . His hat and wig were hanged upon the knob behind him , his head as bald as a bladder of lard , and his expression very shrewd , cantankerous and inquisitive .