four in the
morning
It is now close on the dawning , and the cocks have been saying so from many farm-houses for half an hour -- tiny , fairy cock-crows , clear and shrill from far away , like pixies blowing their horns of departure , `` All aboard for Elfland ! '' lest the hateful revealing sun should light upon their revels . Nearer , hoarse and raucous Chanticleer -LRB- of Shanghai evidently , from the chronic cold which sends his voice deep down into his spurs -RRB- -- thunders an earth-shaking bass . 'T is time for night hawks to be in bed , for the keepers will be astir in a little , and it looks suspicious to be seen leaving the pheasant coverts at four in the morning . The hands of the watch point to the hour , and as though waiting for the word , the whole rookery rises in a black mass and drifts westward across the tree-tops . _ Flood Tide of Night _ . In these long midsummer nights the twilight lingers till within an hour or two of dawn .