midnight
A postponement of the escape at least until to-morrow night was necessary now , and postponement must mean the discovery of Nuttall 's transaction and the asking of questions it would be difficult to answer . It was in his mind to slink back in the night , once his work at Government House were done , and from the outside of the stockade make known to Pitt and the others his presence , and so have them join him that their project might still be carried out . But in this he reckoned without the Governor , whom he found really in the thrall of a severe attack of gout , and almost as severe an attack of temper nourished by Blood 's delay . The doctor was kept in constant attendance upon him until long after midnight , when at last he was able to ease the sufferer a little by a bleeding . Thereupon he would have withdrawn . But Steed would not hear of it . Blood must sleep in his own chamber to be at hand in case of need .