midnight
It had been dark an hour and more , then , and the poults should long since have been hovered in the coop . Had some marauding fox , or other `` varmint '' , run the young turkeys off their reservation ? That seemed improbable at this time of year -- and so early in the evening . Foxes do not usually go hunting before midnight , nor do other predatory animals . Hiram had brought the barn lantern with him , and he took a look around the neighborhood of the empty coop . `` My goodness ! '' he mused , `` Sister will cry her eyes out if anything 's happened to those little turks .