about midnight
`` Aye , woman , woman ! what is there that a man may not learn from a woman ? '' Then he added in a lower tone : `` When can your wild beasts do their work ? '' `` The sun has long since risen ; before it sets I will have made my preparations , and by about midnight , I should think , the deed may be done . We will promise the Roman a secret meeting , lure him out to the temple of Serapis , and on his way home through the desert -- '' `` Aye , then , -- '' cried the king , making a thrust at his own breast as though his hand held a dagger , and he added in warning : `` But your beasts must be as powerful as lions , and as cautious-as cautious , as cats . If you want gold apply to Komanus , or , better still , take this purse . Is it enough ?