midnight
All things solemn and still now . The moon sits quiet as if in church , and jesting dies on the roughest lips . Many call to mind things seen at such a time -- a man drawn down by an invisible grasp , to rise no more , a widow wringing her hands and wailing , fatherless children crying and sobbing . Some there are who have seen the marks of the water-spirits on a drowned man 's body , or maybe seen the thing itself rise up at midnight , furrowing the water with a gleam of light where it moves . Whose turn next ? None can say , but the danger is never far off . The little camp-fire flickered , the roar of the rapids grew fainter .