Best lend him a horse, Kent, or the lout'll be all night getting there." They bustled him away, choking almost from a reluctance that he dared not show.

The thing was unfortunate; but after all not beyond remedy.
The escape was set for midnight, and he should easily be back by then.
He mounted the horse that Kent procured him, intending to make all haste.
"How shall I reenter the stockade, sir ?" he enquired at parting.
"You'll not reenter it," said Bishop.

"When they've done with you at Government House, they may find a kennel for you there until morning." Peter Blood's heart sank like a stone through water.
"But..." he began.
"Be off, I say.

Will you stand there talking until dark?
His excellency is waiting for you." And with his cane Colonel Bishop slashed the horse's quarters so brutally that the beast bounded forward all but unseating her rider.
Peter Blood went off in a state of mind bordering on despair.

And there was occasion for it.