ten o'clock
This was a professed dealer in lawsuits -- a man whose name appeared in every calendar -- whose substance , gained in the multifarious expedients of a settler 's change able habits , was wasted in feeding the harpies of the courts . He was endeavoring to impress the mind of the grand juror with the merits of a cause now at issue , Along with these was a pedestrian , who , having thrown a rifle frock over his shirt , and placed his best wool hat above his sunburnt visage , had issued from his retreat in the woods by a footpath , and was striving to keep company with the others , on his way to hear and to decide the disputes of his neighbors , as a petit juror . Fifty similar little knots of countrymen might have been seen , on that morning , journeying toward the shire-town on the same errand . By ten o'clock the streets of the village were filled with busy faces ; some talking of their private concerns , some listening to a popular expounder of political creeds ; and others gaping in at the open stores , admiring the finery , or examining scythes , axes , and such other manufactures as attracted their curiosity or excited their admiration . A few women were in the crowd , most carrying infants , and followed , at a lounging , listless gait , by their rustic lords and masters . There was one young couple , in whom connubial love was yet fresh , walking at a respectful distance from each other ; while the swain directed the timid steps of his bride , by a gallant offering of a thumb . At the first stroke of the bell , Richard issued from the door of the `` Bold Dragoon , '' flourishing a sheathed sword , that he was fond of saying his ancestors had carried in one of Cromwell 's victories , and crying , in an authoritative tone , to `` clear the way for the court . ''