six o'clock
Who , then , was the gentleman who stopped the chariot , with his three mounted attendants , on the road to the sea , on the heath by the great Punch-Bowl ? That has been the question for now longer than half a century , in fact approaching seventy mortal years . No one has ever been able to say for certain . It occurred at six o'clock on the summer morning . Countess Fanny must have known him , -- and not once did she open her mouth to breathe his name . Yet she had no objection to talk of the adventure and how Simon Fettle , Captain Kirby 's old ship 's steward in South America , seeing horsemen stationed on the ascent of the high road bordering the Bowl , which is miles round and deep , made the postillion cease jogging , and sang out to his master for orders , and Kirby sang back to him to look to his priming , and then the postillion was bidden proceed , and he did not like it , but he had to deal with pistols behind , where men feel weak , and he went bobbing on the saddle in dejection , as if upon his very heart he jogged ; and soon the fray commenced . There was very little parleying between determined men .