midnight
`` There 's every prospect of trouble -- get your rifle and come with me ! '' Yancy noted that this prospect of trouble seemed to afford the judge a pleasurable sensation ; indeed , he had quite lost his former air of somber and suppressed melancholy . `` I let you sleep , thinking you needed the rest , '' the judge went on . `` But ever since midnight we 've been on the verge of riot and possible bloodshed . They 've arrested John Murrell -- it 's claimed he 's planned a servile rebellion ! A man named Hues , who had wormed his way into his confidence , made the arrest . He carried Murrell into Memphis , but the local magistrate , intimidated , most likely , declined to have anything to do with holding him .