midnight
Lone as to the situation in which it stands , it is yet lonelier in its desolation . Even the dog , that did such service in pointing out the criminality of him who caused all the ruin , no longer guards its enclosures , or cheers them with his familiar bark . The faithful animal , adopted by Simeon Woodley , has found a home in the cabin of the hunter . It is midnight ; an hour still and voiceless in Northern climes , but not so in the Southern . Far from it in the State of Mississippi . There the sun 's excessive heat keeps Nature alert and alive , even at night , and in days of December . Though night , it is not December , but a date nearer Spring .