midnight before
A grim smile struggled to his lips as he bore it away . Nor did his muttered reply reach his now preoccupied friend . `` And we cuss the poor darn neche for a savage . '' It was midnight before the final convulsions of the great storming assaults showed a waning . The first signs were the lengthening intervals between the rushes . Then gradually the rushes lessened in determination and only occasionally did they come to close quarters . To Kars the signs were the signs he looked for .