ten o'clock at night
`` I will ride at once to Mr. Barker 's and , if he will let me get a fresh horse there , I will gallop straight back to my place , and will send a man off the moment I arrive there to fetch Ruskin . `` It is only eight o'clock now . I can be home before noon , and my man will do the next stage in a little over four hours . If he finds Ruskin in , he can get to my place by ten o'clock at night , and can start again at daybreak ; so by eleven o'clock tomorrow he can be here . If he is n't here by that time , it will be because he was out when my man got there . At any rate , he is sure to start directly he gets the message . '' `` That will be the best plan , '' Reuben agreed ; `` and I am sure the ladies will be greatly obliged to you , when I tell them what you have undertaken . ''