midnight
As soon as it was Urswick vanished , as he came , in a flash of fire . Herne , then commanded the others to dismount , and made them prostrate themselves before him , and pay him homage . `` This done , he blew a strike on his horn , rode swiftly up the hillside , and a stag being unharboured , the chase commenced . Many a fat buck was hunted and slaughtered that night ; and an hour before daybreak , Herne commanded them to lay the four finest and fattest at the foot of the beech-tree , and then dismissed them , bidding them meet him at midnight at the scathed oak in the home park . `` They came as they were commanded ; but fearful of detection , they adopted strange disguises , not unlike those worn by the caitiffs who were put to death , a few weeks ago , by the king in the great park . Night after night they thus went forth , thinning the herds of deer , and committing other outrages and depredations . Nor were their dark proceedings altogether unnoticed .