midnight
D'ri and I were to cross the lake with a band of raiders , a troop of forty , under my command . We were to rescue some prisoners in a lockup on the other side . They were to be shot in the morning , and our mission therefore admitted of no delay . Our horses had been put aboard a brig at midnight , and soon after the noon mess we dropped down the lake , going into a deep , wooded cove south of the Grenadier Island . There we lay waiting for nightfall . A big wind was howling over the woods at sunset , and the dark came on its wings an hour ahead of time . The night was black and the lake noisy when we got under way , bound for a flatboat ferry .