ten
o'clock
But I must leave you for the present . I will come below again in a few minutes , to conduct you to your citadel . '' Some writers make all ladies purloined , And knights pursuing like a whirlwind ; But those , that write in rhyme , still make The one verse for the other 's sake . Morton and his companions had left the prison a few minutes past ten o'clock . It was nearly one when an officer , who was up and passing through the plaza for certain good reasons best known to himself , noticed , as he approached the guard-house , that there was an unusual degree of stillness about it ; no sentry challenged as he drew near , and indeed there seemed to be none on post . Surprised at this , he entered the porch , or as it is called in New England , the '' _ pye _ - azza , '' where he found the sentry seated , as before described , and snoring most lustily . Him he attempted to awaken by a very summary process ; namely , by tumbling him from his seat upon the ground ; but so stupified was the fellow with the drugged wine that he had drank , that after uttering certain unintelligible growlings , he again slept and snored .