midnight
He could not say what manner of horse it was he was riding , but he felt sure that it was not the faithful charger that had saved his life in Persia , once upon a time , in days long gone by , as it seemed to him then . He was not in Persia now -- of that he was certain , nor in Japan , nor in the Iberian peninsula . Where he was he did not know . In the dead hush of midnight he could hear the barking of a dog on the opposite shore of a dusky and indistinct waste of waters that spread itself far below him . The night grew darker and darker , the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky , and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight . He had never felt so lonely and dismal . In the centre of the road stood an enormous tulip-tree ; its limbs were gnarled and fantastic , large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees , twisting down almost to the earth , and rising again into the air .