midnight
Here she lay wide awake for a long while , listening to the Kaffirs who , having partaken heartily of the buck , were now making themselves drunk by smoking _ dakka _ , or Indian hemp , a habit of which Mr. Dove had tried in vain to break them . At length the fire around which they sat near the thorn fence on the further side of the waggon , grew low , and their incoherent talk ended in silence , punctuated by snores . Rachel began to dose but was awakened by the laughing cries of the hyenas quite close to her . The brutes had scented the dead buck and were wandering round the fence in hope of a midnight meal . Rachel rose , and taking the gun that lay at her side , threw a cloak over her shoulders and left the tent . The moon was shining brightly and by its light she saw the hyenas , two of them , wolves as they are called in South Africa , long grey creatures that prowled round the thorn fence hungrily , causing the oxen that were tied to the trek tow and the horses picketed on the other side of the waggon , to low and whinny in an uneasy fashion . The hyenas saw her also , for her head rose above the rough fence , and being cowardly beasts , slunk away .