midnight
I said they were to die , and pointed them to the hallowed ground of the Temple . More , I led them towards it myself . But advance was checked . Piles of cloud , whose darkness was palpable even in the midnight , covered the holy hill . I attempted to pass through it , and was swept downward by a gust that tore the rocks in a flinty shower around me . While I lay helpless , I heard the whirlwind roar through the cloudy hill ; and the vapours began to revolve . A pale light , like that of the rising moon , quivered on their edges ; and the clouds rose , and rapidly shaped themselves into the forms of battlements and towers .