midnight
By dusk the bulk of the strangers left the town by the highroads , among them the MacNicolls , who had only by the cunning of several friends -LRB- Splendid as busy as any -RRB- been kept from coming to blows with the MacLachlan tail . Earlier in the day , by a galley or wherry , the MacLachlans also had left , but not the young laird , who put up for the night at the house of Provost Brown . The three of us I have mentioned sat at last playing cartes in the ferry-house , where a good glass could be had and more tidiness than most of the hostelries in the place could boast of . By the stroke of midnight we were the only customers left in the house , and when , an hour after , I made the move to set out for Glen Shira , John Splendid yoked on me as if my sobriety were a crime . `` Wait , man , wait , and I 'll give you a convoy up the way , '' he would say , never thinking of the road he had himself to go down to Coillebhraid . And aye it grew late and the night more still . There would be a foot going by at first at short intervals , sometimes a staggering one and a voice growling to itself in Gaelic ; and anon the wayfarers were no more , the world outside in a black and solemn silence .