midnight
It annoyed him sorely as he remembered the loud cheering of the boys . He chafed under the consciousness of defeat , and dreaded , the hints he was sure to receive whenever he should bully any of his companions , that he had a score still unsettled with Sam Hardwicke . He knew that he was a coward , and that the other boys had found it out , and he almost groaned as he lay there in the silence and darkness , meditating revenge . A little after midnight he got up silently and crept along the river bank to the clump of bushes where Sam lay soundly sleeping . His first impulse was to jump upon the sleeper and fight him with an unfair advantage , but he was not yet free from the restraining influence of Sam 's eye and voice so recently brought to bear upon him . No , he dared not attack Sam even with so great an advantage . He must injure him secretly as he had determined to do .