about
twelve o'clock
There was a scene of great excitement , several men drawing their swords and pushing and slashing at the places where they supposed the spectral bird might be . Leah Herrick said the spectre that hurt her came oftenest in the shape of a small black horse , like that which Dulcibel Burton was known to keep and ride . Everybody supposed , she said , that the horse was itself a witch , for it was perfectly black , with not a white hair on it , and nobody could ride it but its mistress . Here Sarah Churchill said she had seen Dulcibel Burton riding about twelve o'clock one night , on her black horse , to a witches ' meeting . Ann Putnam , the child , said she had seen the same thing . One curious thing about it was that Dulcibel had neither a saddle nor a bridle to ride with . She thought this was very strange ; but her mother told her that witches always rode in that manner .