midnight
How to accomplish all this was a problem which Jake thought he had solved by a sudden inspiration . He had formed his plan at the very moment of receiving Sam 's rebuke , and he waited now only for a chance to execute it . An hour passed ; two hours , three . It was after midnight , and all the boys were sleeping soundly . Jake arose noiselessly and crept to the tree at whose roots Sam had laid his baggage . It was thirty feet or more from any of the boys , and Jake was not afraid of waking them . He fumbled about in Sam 's baggage until he felt something hard and round and cold .