midnight
`` I , too , heard rumors of strange men in town , as I came up from the station . Of course , the police will investigate to-morrow . '' The morning dawned on Cragsnook quite as complaisantly as if the night had shed nothing but joy . And quite as indifferently did the girls take up the fun where they left off past midnight , when sheer fatigue had put an end to their tireless pranks . Kicking themselves happily into the new day , vague remembrances of the wild excitement forging through more welcome emotions , the Scouts and their visitor were actually ready for breakfast when Jennie chimed the gong . Madaline , secretly cherishing the mystery of `` something alive '' being in Mary 's hidden away basket , could scarcely wait for the meal to end before asking Mary about it . But there were a number of interruptions .