about midnight
And so full of fight was he that he rolled off the fern-bed and woke with a bump on the floor , and regretted that it was only a dream . For he had just got Martel 's head comfortably under his left arm , and was paying him out in full for all he had made Rachel Carré suffer , when the bump of his fall put an end to it . The following night he fell asleep at once , tired with a long day 's work in the fields . He woke with a start about midnight , with the impression of a sound in his ears , and lay listening doubtfully . Then he perceived that his ears had not deceived him . There was someone in the room , -- or something , -- and for a moment all the superstitions among which he had been bred crawled in his back hair and held his breath . Then a hand dropped out of the darkness and touched his shoulder , and he sprang at the touch like a coiled spring .