eleven o'clock before
But the Corporal had heard enough . Keeping himself carefully concealed he walked along the hedge until he found a rack over it , which seemed to be well worn , leading down to the cottages below , and by this rack he curled himself up in the bushes , and waited . In a short time the village was dark and silent , for in those days oil-lamps were never seen in a cottage ; and the Corporal found waiting rather cold work , but he had bivouacked on colder nights in the wars , and lay patiently in his place . A little after ten the moon rose , but it was full eleven o'clock before the Corporal heard the bushes rustle , and at last made out a man creeping cautiously alongside the hedge . Nearer and nearer he came , straight to the rack in the hedge , where after pausing for a moment to listen , he was beginning to scramble up ; when the Corporal suddenly laid hold of his ankles , brought him sprawling down , rolled him into the hedge-trough , and was instantly on top of him , with his knee on his chest and his hand on his throat . The unfortunate creature was too much paralysed by fright to resist ; and the Corporal soon dragged his face round into the moonlight and saw that he had caught the man that he wanted . `` So you 've come here again , Henry Bale , '' said the Corporal ; `` I told you that it would be the worse for you , if you did . ''