midnight
`` We have got nothing to speak of underneath , '' Dick laughed ; `` we got rid of our uniforms in the Ganges , and want a rig out from top to toe . '' `` Well , we must see what we can do for you tonight . And now , '' he asked , as they trotted along at the head of the column , amid the smiles of the men at the appearance of their commanding officer carrying , as it seemed , a native woman _ en croupe _ , `` how did you escape , boys ? We did not miss you until we halted for half an hour at midnight . Then six of us rode back ten miles , but could find no trace of you , and we gave you up as lost ; so we rode on till we met Major Renaud 's force coming up , when we sent our rescued friends on to Allahabad , and turned back with just a shadow of hope that we might yet find you alive somewhere or other . '' Dick then told the story of the intervention of the tiger in their behalf , and said that afterward an Indian lady had succored them , hinting that at the end of the war it was probable that Ned would present his father with a daughter-in-law . `` That 's all very well , '' Ned laughed .