midnight
As it was clear that something unusual had happened , Mr. Bright had called round on Tommy and a search was already in progress . Jack had taken the Sombari road on his motor cycle and Tommy had taken the main road in an opposite direction . It was more than possible that the car had broken down somewhere , in which case the stranded ones would probably find a bullock-cart to bring them ingloriously home . Honor hung about on the verandah for news till midnight , and was almost speechless with alarm when both boys appeared , one after the other to report the failure of their quest . The car was nowhere to be seen . To add to the difficulty , clouds which had gathered in the evening had discharged smart showers of rain at intervals , as is familiar to Bengal about Christmas time , and not a trace of wheel-marks could be discovered on the road . By morning the excitement had spread all over the Station .