two o'clock in the morning
They went their several ways from the dressing-room . The Colonel dined with two Chaplains , while Platte went to a bachelor-party , and whist to follow . Mark how things happen ! If Platte 's sais had put the new saddle-pad on the mare , the butts of the territs would not have worked through the worn leather , and the old pad into the mare 's withers , when she was coming home at two o'clock in the morning . She would not have reared , bolted , fallen into a ditch , upset the cart , and sent Platte flying over an aloe-hedge on to Mrs. Larkyn 's well-kept lawn ; and this tale would never have been written . But the mare did all these things , and while Platte was rolling over and over on the turf , like a shot rabbit , the watch and guard flew from his waistcoat -- as an Infantry Major 's sword hops out of the scabbard when they are firing a feu de joie -- and rolled and rolled in the moonlight , till it stopped under a window . Platte stuffed his handkerchief under the pad , put the cart straight , and went home .