midnight
But it is true we have been estranged here . May we start to-night ? Jesus asked , and Joseph said : if a man be minded to leave , it is better that he should leave at once . An hour later , about two hours before midnight , they were riding into the desert , lighted by a late moon and incommoded by two puppies that Jesus could not be dissuaded from bringing with him : for if Brother Amos give up his flock to me , he argued , I shall need dogs . But Brother Amos will give thee his dogs , Joseph said . A shepherd , Jesus answered , can not work with any dogs but his own . But what has become of the dogs that were left behind ?