Midnight
`` Sisters never go to that trouble , '' said Skippy , secure in his knowledge of sister nature . `` By the great horned spoon this ca n't go on . I 've either got to lick the stuffin 's out of him or -- '' Without finishing his phrase , he went to the table , drew forth Cæsar 's `` Gallic Wars , '' and a copy of `` Lorna Doone '' and immediately began to concentrate . A moment later Snorky Green arrived chuckling from a foray down the hall where he had just deposited a moth ball in the lamp chimney of Beckstein , the Midnight Poler . He came in rollicking and triumphant , slamming and locking the door against a sudden reprisal . Then , seeing Skippy , he stiffened , scowled , and assumed an air of frigid dignity . Skippy , with his eye on a convenient mirror , followed his movements expectantly .