midnight
How slowly the minutes , the hours passed ; and how bright was the moon when it rose ! brighter even than it was when Hassan crept out to steal through the Arab lines . ... . At midnight , Wyndham stole softly out of a gate in the garden wall , and , like Hassan , dropping to the ground , crept towards a patch of maize lying between the house and the river . He was dressed like a fellah , with the long blue yelek , and a poor wool fez , and round the fez was a white cloth , as it were to protect his mouth from the night air , after the manner of the peasant . The fires of the enemy were dying down , and only here and there Arabs gossiped or drank coffee by the embers . At last Wyndham was able to drop into the narrow channel , now dry , through which , when the sluice was open and the sakkia turned , the water flowed to the house .