one
o'clock
`` Hide the lantern under thy cloak , '' she whispered ; `` and we will creep into this field and ` bide quat under the hedge , till the party shall have passed by . '' The advice was put into practice . The hoofs drew near , accompanied by a jingling sound which seemed to come from pottery . It was now near one o'clock . The ladies kept as still as mice . They were not reassured when the sound came to a stand-still , just before the gate of the field where they were hidden , and a man 's voice , strange to them , said -- `` It was just here I lost the sight of the lanterns . They can not be far off . ''