midnight
With these and other incidents was my life henceforth made up . For months I spent several hours each day with pick or shovel in my hands . I bought the adjoining cabins with the lots upon which they stood , thereby continuing my work of thoroughly prospecting the ground , even after finishing that upon which Olga 's house stood . Following my practice of working during the midnight hour when most people were asleep , the indistinct noise of my pick in the frozen gravel below the floors aroused no one ; though I once overheard two belated pedestrians outside my door wondering from what quarter the noise of the picking and shoveling came . No light was allowed to betray my whereabouts , as a single tallow candle placed low in my prospect hole beneath the floor told no tales ; and once hearing the sound of voices in the street my labors instantly ceased . After a few weeks it was whispered about the camp that strange noises proceeded from the mysterious black cabin at midnight , and later that the same uncanny sounds seemed further away . Only a few persons had ever heard them , and they assured their friends that the vicinity was a good one to keep away from at night time ; the latter advice pleasing me quite as well as it did them .