midnight
That little Testament was at the bottom of his trunk . Fear of the old man had saved him from an open life of wrong , and a certain pride made him disdain to be on a level with Dan Dean and the Gold City gang . Andrew Malden saw the change and yet did not understand it . He never talked with people enough to hear the rumors afloat of the Sunday horse-races , or of the midnight revel on the Fourth of July at the Yellow Jacket . The night that Bess came home saddleless and riderless , with the white foam on her , and when he searched till near morning , to at last find Job stretched in a stupor by the wayside down the Chichilla road , he thought the boy 's after story was true -- that story of a frightened runaway -- and little knew it was Pete Wilkins ' whisky that had thrown him . Ah ! it was only yesterday the old man had said , `` She was a traitor , and so is the boy .