midnight
For God 's sake , come out ! '' He saw the woman start back in a movement of quick confusion , and heard himself call again , this time with muffled agony : `` Ginger ! '' There was a tremendous roar ... he felt a shower of stones hitting him sharply in the face ... He pressed forward ... sheets of flame were leaping greedily toward the sky and a string of people poured out into the sun-baked street . At midnight Fred Starratt , making his way from the outlying districts toward the center of the town , came out of a mental turmoil that had flung him about all day in a series of blind impulses . The air was raucous with the shrill cry of newsboys announcing the details of the morning 's sensation . He knew how the journalistic tale would run without bothering to glimpse the headlines . At this time it would be made up for the most part of vague speculations as to who was the prime mover of the enterprise .