midnight
Tell ` en 't is no use his bringing a horse , for there 's no boat to fetch a horse over . But there 's Tank 's grey mare up to the inn . I 'll have her ready saddled for him , if he 'll promise to ride steady and mind the sore ` pon her near shoulder . '' All the village had heard the midnight gallop of hoofs ; all the village had guessed accurately who the rider was , and why he rode . But Nicky 's dismissal was known to a few only . Soon after daybreak the news of this spread too , with the circumstance that only Nicky 's good-nature had kept clear the king 's highway for a message which above all others needs to be carried with speed . Nicky sat complacent off the ferry-slip in Hosken 's blue boat when the new ferryman arrived -LRB- twenty minutes late , by reason of his having to fetch the keys from Hall -RRB- , and stolidly undid the padlock fastening the official craft .