midnight
` There are five hundred here , Lord , and as many thousands within the valley , whose blood has flowed pure from the olden times , unpolluted by a single stain of Spanish dirt . What would you with them ? ' ` I asked not for hundreds or thousands , ' I said , right glad at heart to hear such good tidings . ` For the present I need but a score , so do you choose me twenty of the noblest blood and the best judgment , and an hour before midnight let them be with you on the plain behind the Sacsahuaman . Let them come well provided with torches or candles , and tools , levers , and hammers and spades . Tell them what has passed between us , but nothing of the guesses that you may have made in your own mind while we have been talking , and leave the rest to me . Can you do that ? '