midnight
It micht be a delusion o ' the Enemy , if it wasna the de'il himsel ' . '' All that peaceful Sabbath day Tam 's meditations were disturbed by visions of great salmon . And as at family worship that night his master read aloud from `` the Word , '' Tam quaked to realise that no syllable had penetrated his dulled ears , but that , with the concluding solemn `` Amen , '' had come to his mind the resolution to clip the wings of the Sabbath , and at all costs to capture that fish before anyone could forestall him . According , as soon as his too ardent mind judged that the hands of the clock must be drawing near to midnight , Tam arose , and , rousing a farm boy to bear the light for him as he struck , with `` clodding waster '' in hand set off for the river . Now this clodding waster -LRB- or leister -RRB- was a possession of which Tam was inordinately proud ; amongst his friends its temper and penetrating power were proverbial . It had been made for him by the Runcimans of Yarrowford , smiths celebrated far and wide for the marvellous qualities they imparted to all weapons made by them . As Purdie said : `` I could hae thrawn mine off the head o ' a scaur , and if she had strucken a whinstane rock she wad hae been nae mair blunted than if I had thrawn her on a haystalk . ''