about four o'clock
`` You drop stones , '' he used to say , `` and they turn up armed men . '' How he learned their place of meeting I do n't know . But Sunday afternoon was a favorite time for the rebels ; and the coursing match on the black hills and the rabbit hunt in the plantations were only preliminaries to more important and secret work . Whether by accident or design , Father Letheby stumbled on such a meeting about four o'clock one Sunday afternoon . A high ditch and a strong palisade of fir trees hid him from sight , and he was able to hear a good deal , and had no scruple in playing the listener . This is what he heard . The village tailor , lame in one leg , and familiarly known as `` Hop-and-go-one , '' was the orator : -- `` Fellow countrymen , de time for action has come .