midnight
He would have again sought refuge in his passive , non-committal attitude , but he knew the impersonal character of Indian retribution and compensation -- a sacrifice of equal value , without reference to the culpability of the victim -- and he dreaded some spontaneous outbreak . To prevent the enforced expiation of the crime by some innocent brother packer , he was obliged to give orders for the pursuit and arrest of the criminal , secretly hoping for his escape or the interposition of some circumstance to avert his punishment . A day of sullen expectancy to the old men and squaws in camp , of gloomy anxiety to Elijah alone in his lodge , followed the departure of the braves on the war-path . It was midnight when they returned . Elijah , who from his habitual reserve and the accepted etiquette of his exalted station had remained impassive in his tent , only knew from the guttural rejoicings of the squaws that the expedition had been successful and the captive was in their hands . At any other time he might have thought it an evidence of some growing scepticism of his infallibility of judgment and a diminution of respect that they did not confront him with their prisoner . But he was too glad to escape from the danger of exposure and possible arraignment of his past life by the desperate captive , even though it might not have been understood by the spectators .