about four o’clock in the morning
I will ! '' And in assurance thereof he shot a ball into the air , so that the echo rolled through the silence awfully and the ravens flew croaking from their nests . The nearer the hour approached at which the brothers must return home the more nervous he grew ; but his nervousness was not about the bloody deed : he trembled lest at the last moment his hand should fail him , his courage vanish , for they had always called him a coward . It might have been about four o'clock in the morning , and the moon was already waning , when the sound of bells was heard in the distance -- at first softly , then louder and louder . He sprang into the hollow which the driving snow had nearly filled up , and threw himself flat upon the ground . The sledge neared the edge of the wood ; two persons wrapped in furs sat in it -- it was they . But how long they were coming !