Midnight
He then cut down a sapling and fastened it to the roof and on it he tied his neckerchief , which fluttered valiantly and with defiance in the light breeze . `` I shore hopes they appreciates that , '' he remarked whimsically , as he went inside the hut and closed the door . The early part of the evening passed in peace , and Hopalong , tired of watching in vain , wished for action . Midnight came , and it was not until half an hour before dawn that he was attacked . Then a noise sent him to a loophole , where he fired two shots at skulking figures some distance off . A fusillade of bullets replied ; one of them ripped through the door at a weak spot and drilled a hole in a can of the everlasting peaches . Hopalong set the can in the frying pan and then flitted from loophole to loophole , shooting quick and straight .