Midnight
-- '' `` That , at least , is the truth ! '' Then , one heard the sound of their laughter , which in two different intonations had the same freshness and the same youthfulness . Ramuntcho , with an habitual brusque and graceful gesture , changed his waistcoat from one shoulder to the other , pulled his cap on the side , and , with no other farewell than a sign of the head , they separated , for Dolores was coming from the end of the road . Midnight , a winter night , black as Hades , with great wind and whipping rain . By the side of the Bidassoa , in the midst of a confused extent of ground with treacherous soil that evokes ideas of chaos , in slime that their feet penetrate , men are carrying boxes on their shoulders and , walking in the water to their knees , come to throw them into a long thing , blacker than night , which must be a bark -- a suspicious bark without a light , tied near the bank . It is again Itchoua 's band , which this time will work by the river . They have slept for a few moments , all dressed , in the house of a receiver who lives near the water , and , at the needed hour , Itchoua , who never closes but one eye , has shaken his men ; then , they have gone out with hushed tread , into the darkness , under the cold shower propitious to smuggling .