midnight
And he blessed , with all the fervency of his heart , the man who had brought him home . He went to his bed , but sleep did not at once come to him . He lay with hushed breathing , listening to the little , secret noises , known so well , of the wilderness night . He heard the wild creatures start forth on their midnight journeys . Once a lynx mewed at the edge of the forest ; and he laughed aloud when some large creature -- probably a moose -- grunted and splashed water in the near-by beaver meadow . Thus ended the first of a brilliant succession of joyous days , descending the stream in the daylight hours and camping on the bank at night . Every day they plunged deeper into the heart of the wilderness , and every hour Ben felt more at home .