midnight
With those words she led the way out to the kitchen , where a couple of men were waiting . Bart and Bruce followed them down to a boat-house on the river bank , and saw the boat there which Mrs. Watson had offered them . This boat could be launched at any time , and as there was nothing more to be done , the boys strolled disconsolately about , and finally went to the end of the promontory , and spent a long time looking out over the water , and conversing sadly about poor Tom 's chances . There they sat late in the night , until midnight came , and so on into the morning . At last the scene before them changed from a sheet of water to a broad expanse of mud . The water had all retired , leaving the bed of the river exposed . Of all the rivers that flow into the Bay of Fundy none is more remarkable than the Petitcodiac .