midnight
`` It does n't mean anything , '' explained Colonel Howell . `` They just slap down an iron frog and run on again . Do n't get scared about that . '' When time for supper arrived , the agent gave it as his judgment that the train could n't get in before midnight and , in that event , that it certainly would not go back until the next morning . Being assured by this employee that in case his theory was not correct he would send them word , the party abandoned their car to have supper and sleep in a little French hotel . The supper was bad and the beds were worse . Norman and Roy longed for their new blankets and the woods , and slept with difficulty .