midnight
From the rumble of the trucks under him he knew that the two engines were making good time . He looked at his watch . It was a quarter of twelve . They had been travelling for half an hour and he figured that the divisional point ahead would be reached by midnight . It seemed a very short time after that when he heard the tiny bell in his watch tinkle off the hour of twelve . The last strokes were drowned in a shrill blast of the engine whistle , and a moment later he caught the dull glow of lights in the hollow of a wide curve the train was making . Father Roland had told him the train would wait at this point fifteen minutes , and even now he heard the clanging of handbells announcing the fact that hot coffee , sandwiches , and ready-prepared suppers were awaiting the half-starved passengers .