eight o'clock
Then raising him to his feet he shoved him over the rack in the hedge , and led him past Mrs. Mugford 's windows , where a rushlight was burning , into the road and so to the stables at Bracefort . There he locked his prisoner into a separate loose-box with a barred window , having first tied his wrists before him , instead of his thumbs behind him ; and then he sought out pen and paper and wrote ; a letter to Colonel Fitzdenys , which , though it was not very long , took him much time to write , and ran as follows : -- `` Honoured Col. -- these are to inform you that I have the deserter Henry Bale saf under lock and kay which is all at present from your honour 's most ob ' t humble serv ` t. -- J. BRIMACOTT . '' He put the letter into his pocket , and drawing a mattress before the door of the loose-box , went fast asleep on it till dawn , when he called a sleepy stable-boy from the rooms above and bade him ride over with the letter to Fitzdenys Court . By eight o'clock Colonel Fitzdenys arrived at a gallop from Fitzdenys Court . Having seen and questioned the Corporal 's prisoner , who made a full confession , he left a message that he would return as soon as possible , and that he would want to see Mrs. Fry and Tommy ; after which he rode back again , as fast as he had come , to Kingstoke . There his business was soon finished , for when the idiot was brought up before him -LRB- which he had already arranged to be done -RRB- he was able to discharge him directly , since he himself had ascertained that the true deserter had been captured . But none the less he gave the serjeant a guinea to console him for his disappointment in having caught the wrong man .