ten
o’clock
`` Troth , then , myself does not know ; but my father , I heerd tell , died of an apple-plexy , and I 'm afeerd of it . '' I at length found Considine , and learned that , as a very good account of Bodkin had arrived , there was no reason why I should not proceed to the hustings ; but I was secretly charged not to take any prominent part in the day 's proceedings . My uncle I only saw for an instant , -- he begged me to be careful , avoid all scrapes , and not to quit Considine . It was past ten o'clock when our formidable procession got under way , and headed towards the town of Galway . The road was , for miles , crowded with our followers ; banners flying and music playing , we presented something of the spectacle of a very ragged army on its march . At every cross-road a mountain-path reinforcement awaited us , and as we wended along , our numbers were momentarily increasing ; here and there along the line , some energetic and not over-sober adherent was regaling his auditory with a speech in laudation of the O'Malleys since the days of Moses , and more than one priest was heard threatening the terrors of his Church in aid of a cause to whose success he was pledged and bound . I rode beside the count , who , surrounded by a group of choice spirits , recounted the various happy inventions by which he had , on divers occasions , substituted a personal quarrel for a contest .