nine
o'clock
Elias moved away without a word and was soon swallowed up in the darkness . Several minutes later the church-clock struck eight and the bell announced the hour of the souls , but Lucas invited no one to play nor did he call on the dead , as the superstition directs ; instead , he took off his hat and muttered a few prayers , crossing and recrossing himself with the same fervor with which , at that same moment , the leader of the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary was going through a similar performance . Throughout the night a drizzling rain continued to fall . By nine o'clock the streets were dark and solitary . The coconut-oil lanterns , which the inhabitants were required to hang out , scarcely illuminated a small circle around each , seeming to be lighted only to render the darkness more apparent . Two civil-guards paced back and forth in the street near the church . `` It 's cold ! ''