about midnight
Then came the night of the catastrophe . The gold , as fast as it was taken out of the cave , was carried , in sacks made from blankets , to the opening in the wall of rock that gave entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch , and from there lowered to the ground with ropes . Each night all the workers returned to the camp under the Big Tree . On this night , the sixth night from the day of the finding of the Cave of Gold , about midnight , there suddenly swept through the air above them one of those rare , for that time of the year , but often very violent , mountain storms . For an hour the water fell out of the skies , as if poured from an enormous bucket . The wind blew , until it seemed almost to shake the solid mountains themselves , while vivid glares of lightning blinded the eyes and heavy peals of thunder deafened the ears . Then came a lull in the violence of the storm , as if the elements had paused to gather themselves for a last supreme effort , followed almost instantly by a glare of lightning so vivid , that , for the moment , it seemed as if the whole world was ablaze , and a shock of thunder , so appalling , that everyone leaped from his blanket and stood staring with blanched face and frightened eyes around him , not knowing what awful thing was happening .