midnight
All did , so Fernald gave the order to lie down . The long , long minutes dragged into an hour , and the hour into a second . The boys were so restless that it was hard to lie quiet and still , but they forced themselves to . It was almost midnight , but it seemed like a week to the boys , when the cracking of twigs and the crunch of feet warned of the approach of men . It proved to be the party , for they heard a low growling imprecation from Green as he stumbled over some object . Garry nudged Fernald , and immediately felt two sharp taps on his shoulder . At once he imitated the plaintive hoo-o-o - hoo-o-o - of an owl .