midnight
In a few moments the whole family would be singing , and the joyous sounds pouring out from the house like the music of the birds in the fields at dawn . The hymns were usually invocations to the Virgin , or to the saint of the day , and the melodies were sweet and simple . On this morning there was another watcher for the dawn besides Father Salvierderra . It was Alessandro , who had been restlessly wandering about since midnight , and had finally seated himself under the willow-trees by the brook , at the spot where he had seen Ramona the evening before . He recollected this custom of the sunrise hymn when he and his band were at the Senora 's the last year , and he had chanced then to learn that the Father slept in the southeast room . From the spot where he sat , he could see the south window of this room . He could also see the low eastern horizon , at which a faint luminous line already showed .