midnight
Also Henri was fretting about his work . Sometimes at night , following Henri 's instructions , Jean wandered quietly along roads and paths that paralleled the Front . At such times his eyes were turned , not toward the trenches , but toward that flat country which lay behind , still dotted at that time with groves of trees , with canals overhung with pollard willows , and with here and there a farmhouse that at night took on in the starlight the appearance of being whole again . Singularly white and peaceful were those small steadings of Belgium in the night hours -- until cruel dawn showed them for what they were -- skeletons of dead homes , clothed only at night with wraithlike roofs and chimneys ; ghosts of houses , appearing between midnight and cock crow . Jean had not Henri 's eyes nor his recklessness nor his speed , for that matter . Now and then he saw the small appearing and disappearing lights on some small rise . He would reach the spot , with such shelter as possible , to find only a sugar-beet field , neglected and unplowed .