midnight
`` It will be long after dark before we can reach camp , '' said Captain Markham , sighing deeply . `` Confound such roads . Why not call them morasses and have done with it ! '' `` No , we ca n't make it much before midnight , '' said Dick , `` but , after all , that will be early enough . If I judge him right , even midnight wo n't catch General Thomas asleep . '' `` You 've judged him right , '' said Markham . `` I 've been with ` Pap ' Thomas some time -- we call him ` Pap ' because he takes such good care of us -- and I think he is going to be one of the biggest generals in this war .