midnight
_ C'est ainsi que l'on fait danser les marionettes ! _ '' There was no doubt that the hood of the tower was in fact white hot , for the perpendicular cliffs of the mountain across the valley sharply reflected the light that it disseminated . The humming whir of the great alternator rose gradually into a scream like the outcry of some angry thing . And then unexpectedly a shaft of pale lavender light shot out from the glowing hood and lost itself in the blackness of the midnight sky . Now appeared a wonderful and beautiful spectacle : immediately above the point where the rays disappeared into the ether hundreds of points of yellow fire suddenly sprang into being in the sky , darting hither and thither like fireflies , some moving slowly and others with such speed they appeared as even , luminous lines . '' _ Les marionettes ! Les marionettes !