about ten o'clock
`` But they do not mean it ? '' I exclaimed . `` As far as words go , they do , '' replied Jacques ; `` but dogs that are so ready to bark rarely bite . '' He treated the subject so lightly that I thought no more of it ; but about ten o'clock a woman came from the village with the news that a number of the men , armed with clubs , pikes and forks , had started off in a body for the lawyer 's house . In answer to my anxious questioning she said they had been gone some time , and had taken a short cut across country . `` Saddle the horses , Jacques ! '' I cried ; `` this must be stopped .