midnight
Absurd ! Their clothes were soaken , their hair dank ; their white faces , dimly discernible , were clammy and cold . Besides , none of us had any water . There was plenty coming , though , for before midnight a thunderstorm broke upon us with great violence . The rain , which had for hours been a dull drizzle , fell with a copiousness that stifled us ; we moved in running water up to our ankles . Happily , we were in a forest of great trees heavily `` decorated '' with Spanish moss , or with an enemy standing to his guns the disclosures of the lightning might have been inconvenient . As it was , the incessant blaze enabled us to consult our watches and encouraged us by displaying our numbers ; our black , sinuous line , creeping like a giant serpent beneath the trees , was apparently interminable .