a quarter before six
He could see the tops of pikes and pennons amid the tree trunks . He muttered that such a pageant he would very soon make for himself ; for , filled with the elation of his new magnificence , since Privy Seal was his friend and Viridus was earnest to do him favour , he imagined that no captain nor lord in that land soon should overpass him . For that any lord should desire his new lands troubled him little ; only he hastened to cut that lord 's throat and to kiss his cousin Kat . It was a quarter before six when he drew rein in the green yard that lay before the King 's arch in Hampton . There befel the strangest scuffle there ; flaring for a moment and gone out like the gunpowder they sometimes lit in saucers for sport . A man called Lascelles came slowly from under the arch to meet him , and then , running over the green grass from the little side door , came the young Poins in red breeches , pulling off a red coat that he had had but half the time to don and tugging at his sword whose hilt was caught in the sleeve hole . Even as he issued , Lascelles , walking slowly , began to run and to call .