midnight
`` If I catch one of you attempting the ladders tonight , I 'll tie you up ! '' `` Who said anything about going down the ladders tonight ? '' demanded Tommy . It was somewhere near midnight when the boys sought their beds . Will and George were soon asleep , but Tommy and Sandy had no notion of passing their first night in the mine in slumber . Ten minutes after the regular breathing of the two sleepers became audible , Tommy sat up in his bed and deftly threw a pillow so as to strike Sandy in the face . `` Cut it out ! ''