midnight
When one is saved again and again from the very verge he begins to believe that failure is impossible , and in that very belief lies the greatest guard against failure . It is said of Grant that in the night after his great defeat around the church of Shiloh , he was still confident , that he told his generals they would certainly win on the morrow , and he reminded them that if the Union army had suffered terribly , the Southern army must have suffered almost equally so , and would face them at dawn with numbers far less than their own . He had not displayed the greatest skill , but he had shown the greatest moral courage , and now on the night between battles it was that quality that was needed most . Dick , not having slept any the night before , and having passed through a day of fierce battle , was overcome after midnight , and sank into a sleep that was mere lethargy . He awoke once before dawn and remembered , but vaguely , all that had happened . Yet he was conscious that there was much movement in the forest . He heard the tread of many feet , the sound of commands , the neigh of horses and the rumbling of cannon wheels .