midnight
Such were the preacher 's triumphs . Thus Sylvanus Cobb learned his lesson in the College of the Silences , to the accompaniment of the hard clang of the logs roaring down the mountain-side , or the sweeter and more continuous ring of his men 's axes . At night he walked about a long time , silent under the thick-spangled roofing of stars . For in that land the black midnight sky is not thin-sprinkled with glistening pointlets as at home , but wears a very cloth of gold . The frost shrewdly nipped his ears , and he heard the musical sound of the water running somewhere under the ice . A poor hare ran to his feet , pursued by a fox which drew off at sight of him , showing an ugly flash of white teeth . But all the while , among his quietness of thought , and even in the hours when he went indoors to read to the men as they sat on their rugs with their feet to the fire , he thought oftenest of the walks on the North Berwick sands , and of the important fact that May Chisholm had to stop three times to push a rebellious wisp of ringlets under her hat-brim .