ten o'clock
Then he clapped on his hat , aslant over the locks of his golden wig , and , taking up his whip , he moved with leisurely dignity towards the door . He looked back with a sardonic smile at the ado he was leaving behind him , listened a moment to the voices that already were being raised in excitement , then closed the door and made his way briskly to the stable-yard , where he called for his horse . He rode out of Bridgwater ten minutes later , and took the road to Taunton as the moon was rising big and yellow over the hills on his left . He reached Taunton towards ten o'clock that night , having ridden hell-to-leather . His first visit was to the Hare and Hounds , where Blake and Westmacott had overtaken the courier . His next to the house where Sir Edward Phelips and Colonel Luttrell -- the gentlemen lately ordered to Taunton by His Majesty -- had their lodging . The fruits of Mr. Trenchard 's extraordinary behaviour that night were to be seen at an early hour on the following day , when a constable and three tything-men came with a Lord-Lieutenant 's warrant to arrest Mr. Richard Westmacott on a charge of high treason .