nine o'clock
`` Now , gentlemen , '' said Mr. Chapman , who was an impetuous old gentleman , `` do n't you see those Yankees were close enough in taking care of their own slaves , and if they could have raised sugar and cotton , or had deemed it to their advantage to be slaveholders to this day , they 'd have had a Fugitive Slave Law long before this . A Daniel would have come to judgment sooner even than the immortal Daniel Webster . '' `` Wait a moment , my dear sir , '' said Mr. Barbour . `` Another paragraph of the same act provides , ` that if any negro , mulatto , or Indian servant or slave , shall be found abroad from home , in the night season , after nine o'clock , without a special order from his or their master or mistress , it shall be lawful for any person or persons to apprehend and secure such negro , mulatto , or Indian servant or slave , so offending , and him , her , or them , bring before the next assistant or justice of the peace , which authority shall have full power to pass sentence upon such servant or slave , and order him , her , or them , to be publicly whipped on the _ naked _ body , not exceeding ten stripes , & c. ' '' `` Pretty tight laws you had , sir , '' said Mr. Chapman , addressing Mr. Perkins . `` A woman could be picked up and whipped , at the report of any body , on the naked body . Why , sir , if we had such laws here , it would be whipping all the time , -LRB- provided so infamous a law could be carried into execution . -RRB- There is one thing certain , you made the most of slavery while you had it . ''