midnight
But the very next morning , he turned cold with horror to find on his doorstep a small black-coffined doll , with pins run through the heart , a burned-out candle at the head and another at the feet . `` You know it is Palmyre , do you ? '' asked Agamemnon , seizing the old man as he was going at a headlong pace through the garden gate . `` What if I should tell you that by watching the Congo dancing-ground at midnight to-night , you will see the real author of this mischief -- eh ? '' `` And why to-night ? '' `` Because the moon rises at midnight . '' There was firing that night in the deserted Congo dancing-grounds under the ruins of Fort St. Joseph , or , as we would say now , in Congo Square , from three pistols -- Agricola 's , ` Polyte 's , and the weapon of an ill-defined , retreating figure answering the description of the person who had stabbed Agricola the preceding February .