eleven o’clock
The darkness deepened owing to a thick current of clouds which overspread the sky . There was not a breath of wind . The silence of night was only interrupted by the cries of the `` morepork '' in the minor key , like the mournful cuckoos of Europe . Towards eleven o'clock , after a wretched , heavy , unrefreshing sleep , the Major woke . His half-closed eyes were struck with a faint light running among the great trees . It looked like a white sheet , and glittered like a lake , and McNabbs thought at first it was the commencement of a fire . He started up , and went toward the wood ; but what was his surprise to perceive a purely natural phenomenon !