midnight
Suddenly his eye fell upon the pile in the corner . The blanket that covered the treasure was actually moving ! He rose quickly , but silently , alert , self-contained , and menacing . For this dreamer , this bereaved man , this scornful philosopher of riches had disappeared with that midnight trespass upon the sacred treasure . The movement of the blanket ceased ; the soft , swishing sound recommenced . He drew a glittering bowie-knife from his boot-leg , and in three noiseless strides was beside the pile . There he saw what he fully expected to see , -- a narrow , horizontal gap between the log walls of the cabin and the adobe floor , slowly widening and deepening by the burrowing of unseen hands from without .