midnight
When it seemed to me as if the night was considerably more than half-spent , I whispered tremblingly to my companion : `` Have you given over tryin ' to gain the fort ? '' `` Why should you think so , lad ? '' he asked , as if in surprise . `` We had best make the venture after midnight , rather than now while the enemy is astir . '' So great was my fear as to what the future might have in store for us that I had failed to hear the hum of voices , until my attention was thus attracted , and then I realized that it was yet quite early in the evening , instead of well toward morning , as I had supposed . Because he did not speak again I understood that Sergeant Corney was not inclined for conversation , and I lay there motionless and silent until it was as if twice four and twenty hours had passed , when the old man , rising to a sitting posture , whispered , cautiously : `` I reckon , lad , that the time has come for us to make a try at deliverin ' the general 's message . As I figger it , we had best bear off to the westward , strikin ' the fort on that side nearabout where the fragment of a bush stands , than to push on for the main gate .