nearly nine o'clock
Cloudy scarcely waited to hear this benediction , but hurried to the stables , found and saddled his horse , threw himself into the stirrups , and in five minutes was dashing rapidly through the thick , low-lying forest stretching inland from the coast . Eight hours of hard riding brought him to the county seat . Just stopping long enough to have his horse put up at the best hotel and to inquire his way to the prison , he hurried thither . It was nearly nine o'clock , and the street corners were thronged with loungers conversing in low , eager tones upon the present all-absorbing topic of discourse -- the astounding event of the arrest of the great preacher , the Rev. Thurston Willcoxen , upon the charge of murder . Hurrying past all these , Cloudy reached the jail . He readily gained admittance , and was conducted to the cell of the prisoner . He found Thurston attired as when he left home , sitting at a small wooden stand , and calmly occupied with his pen .