nine
o'clock
`` Now , go to bed , Charley ; never do so again , and it will be all right to-morrow , '' said the weak mother , as she took her leave . But Charles did not go to bed . The family retired early ; and , taking his great-coat on his arm , he stole noiselessly out of the house . At nine o'clock he was at the rendezvous of the Rovers . It was not deemed prudent to put their plans in execution till a later hour ; and the band dispersed , with instructions to meet again in an hour at Flat Rock , where the boats would be in readiness to take them off to the island . Tim and Charles , with four others , immediately repaired to the place where Joe Braman 's boat , which had been hired for the enterprise , was concealed . Seating themselves in it , they waited till the hour had expired , and then , with muffled oars , pulled up to the Butterfly 's house .