midnight
But not so with the biters . They were young , and they had plotted on this night to begin hostilities against the settlers . Their plan had been to burn the log school-house and the house of the Woodses , and to make a captive of Mrs. Woods , whose hostile spirit they wished to break and punish . Soon after the quiet scene at midnight they began to be restless . Their cries arose here and there about the margin of the plateau and along the river . The old chief knew their feelings , and saw the stormy ripples here and there . He arose slowly , and called : `` My people , draw near . ''