about nine o'clock
I would have borrowed him myself , but I thought it dacenter to ride my own horse manfully , even though he never won a side of mutton or a saddle , like Dannellon 's . But the man that was most likely to come in for the bottle was little Billy Cormick , the tailor , who rode a blood-racer that young-John Little had wickedly lent him for the special purpose ; he was a tall bay animal , with long small legs , a switch tail , and did n't know how to trot . Maybe we did n't cut a dash -- and might have taken a town before us . Out we set about nine o'clock , and went acrass the country : but I 'll not stop to mintion what happened some of them , even before we got to the bride 's house . It 's enough to say here , that sometimes one in crassing a stile or ditch would drop into the shough ; ** sometimes another would find himself head foremost on the ground ; a woman would be capsized here in crassing a ridgy field , bringing her fore-rider to the ground along with her ; another would be hanging like a broken arch , ready to come down , till some one would ride up and fix her on the seat . But as all this happened in going over the fields , we expected that when we 'd get out on the king 's highway there would be less danger , as we would have no ditches or drains to crass . When we came in sight of the house , there was a general shout of welcome from the bride 's party , who were on the watch for us : we could n't do less nor give them back the chorus ; but we had better have let that alone , for some of the young horses took the stadh , *** others of them capered about ; the asses -- the sorra choke them -- that were along with us should begin to bray , as if it was the king 's birthday -- and a mule of Jack Urwin 's took it into his head to stand stock still .