midnight
But the crowning festivity of the evening was reached in a rude camp-meeting hymn , which the lovers , joining hands , sang with great earnestness and vociferation . I fear that a certain defiant tone and Covenanter 's swing to its chorus , rather than any devotional quality , caused it speedily to infect the others , who at last joined in the refrain : `` I 'm proud to live in the service of the Lord , And I 'm bound to die in His army . '' The pines rocked , the storm eddied and whirled above the miserable group , and the flames of their altar leaped heavenward as if in token of the vow . At midnight the storm abated , the rolling clouds parted , and the stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp . Mr. Oakhurst , whose professional habits had enabled him to live on the smallest possible amount of sleep , in dividing the watch with Tom Simson somehow managed to take upon himself the greater part of that duty . He excused himself to the Innocent by saying that he had `` often been a week without sleep . '' `` Doing what ? ''