nine o'clock
`` Going fast ? '' `` Goin ' like hell ! '' said he ; then added , `` and goin ' _ to _ hell , too , if he do n't mind how he rides . '' It was now after nine o'clock , and I had nineteen or twenty miles ahead of me . As I had ten hours , I considered that circumspection was worth more than haste -- let the black horse go on . `` Where are the rebels ? '' `` A mile in front when dark came . ''