midnight
`` That 's a lie -- we 'll be in in ten minutes and make your bass a squeak . If you do n't open this ` ere door in a jiffy -- we 'll make grease-pots of you along with them niggers . Look what we 'll do with your castle -- just what we have been doing with the old hulk down there on the rocks . '' As he spoke , the darkness in the house withdrew to the holes and corners , and flashes of red and white light shot into every window and played on the walls , reflected from the midnight sky that had suddenly kindled to a blaze . The outlaws had set the old wreck on fire -- our dear old school-house . Could the Captain be there , sleeping yet ? or had they killed him ?