midnight
Meanwhile , through the dewy night , amidst the thousand odours of the woods , rode Hubert and his fifty horsemen . They stayed not for brake , and they slacked not for ford . All the loving heart of Hubert went before him to the rescue of the friend of his boyish days ; suffering , he doubted not , cruel wrong and unmerited imprisonment in a noisome dungeon . And ere the midnight hour he arrived amidst the familiar scenes , and saw at length the towers rise before him in the faint light of a new moon . The sound of his horses must have been heard , but no challenge of warder awaited them . When the party arrived they found the drawbridge down , the gates open . What could it mean ?