midnight
-- Just wait a moment and we 'll ask the colonel if we ca n't _ lie down _ . It 'll be easier to ride over us that way . -- Oh , go to hell ! '' The parties passed , the ranks of the infantry straightened out again on the dark road , the column wound on through the hot , midnight wood . More hoof-beats -- another party of cavalry to be let by ! They passed the infantry in the darkness , pushing the broken line into the ditch and scrub . In the pitchy blackness an impatient command lost at this juncture its temper .