About nine o'clock
`` Quite the other way , sir . I should say that after all their bragging every man in the place is in a blue funk . '' A great many people , especially women with children , were making their way across the bridge . About nine o'clock a little knot of five or six men , following a tall figure , passed them . `` That is the bishop , '' Terence whispered , and in pursuance of the orders that he had previously given them , the two men followed him as he fell in at a short distance behind the group . These turned off from the main road and took one that led up to the Serra Convent , standing on the crest of a rugged hill . As soon as they had passed beyond the houses at the foot of the hill , and the road was altogether deserted , Terence said to the men : `` Now is our time .