midnight
The place can not be far from Tinta , but somewhere this side of it . We need not hurry , for there are two months to spare . '' `` How do you mean , Dias ? '' `` On a day that answers to the 21st of March , Coyllur -- that is a star -- will rise at midnight in a cleft in a peak . It can be seen only in the valley in which the stream that contains the gold runs down . This is what my father taught me ; therefore there must be mountains to the south-east , and this can only be where the Cordilleras run east , which is the case at Tinta . '' `` That is excellent as far as it goes , if we happen to be in the right valley at the time , Dias , but it would not help us in the slightest if we were in any other valley .