midnight
Each was given the country he knew best . Some went westerly , some followed up the river . Rolf , Seymour , and Fiske , another Vermonter , skimmed out of Plattsburg harbour in the dusk , rounded Cumberland Bend , and at nine o'clock landed at Point au Roche , at the north side of Treadwell 's Bay . Here they hid the canoe and agreeing to meet again at midnight , set off in three different westerly directions to strike the highway at different points . Seymour , as the fast racer , was given the northmost route ; Rolf took the middle . Their signals were arranged -- in the woods the barred-owl cry , by the water the loon ; and they parted . The woods seemed very solemn to Rolf that historic September night , as he strode along at speed , stopping now and again when he thought he heard some signal , and opened wide his mouth to relieve his ear-drums of the heart-beat or to still the rushing of his breath .