midnight
Back into the black night , with the winds whistling through the pines . Back to wandering about through the hills , hurrying forward at the sight of every faint , dark object against the snow , in the hope that Harry , crippled by the cave-in , might have some way gotten out of the shaft . But they were only boulders or logs or stumps of trees . At midnight , Fairchild turned once more toward town and to the boarding house . But Harry had not appeared . There was only one thing left to do . This time , when Fairchild left Mother Howard 's , his steps did not lead him toward Kentucky Gulch .