midnight
They regard the dwellers in towns with contempt , descending upon them in sudden raids when the snows melt , and returning to their mountain fortresses laden with booty and sometimes with hostages . They maintain within political frontiers empires of their own , defying laws and defeating with ease the police-bands who are sent to apprehend them . They have no virtues save courage and occasionally fidelity and no ideals save the acquisition of spoil . They invariably draw to themselves the high-spirited youths of the towns ; and the girls , offered the choice of drudging poverty or the protection of a farmer of taxes , are sometimes discovered to have gone away during the excitement of a midnight foray . So had Evanthia 's mother , a lazy , lion-hearted baggage of Petritch whose parents had breathed more easily when they were free at last from her incessant demands and gusts of rage . But the man who had carried her off into the mountains was nearing the end of his predatory career , and very soon -LRB- for he had no enemies , having killed them all -RRB- he was able to purchase a franchise from the Government and turn tax-farmer himself . He was so successful that he became a rich man , and the family , fighting every inch of the way , took a villa in Pera .