midnight
The motto of his family was '' _ Reparabit cornua Phoebe _ , '' which being interpreted by his countrymen , in their vernacular idiom , ran thus -- `` We 'll hae moonlight again . '' Now , the young laird was one who considered it his chief honour to give effect to both the spirit and the letter of his family motto . Permitting us again to refer to honest Falstaff , it implied that they were `` gentlemen of the night ; '' and he was not one who would loll upon his pillow when his `` avocation '' called him to the foray . It was drawing towards midnight , in the month of October , when the leaves in the forest had become brown and yellow , and with a hard sound rustled upon each other , that young Scott called together his retainers , and addressing them , said -- `` Look ye , friends , is it not a crying sin and a national shame to see things going aglee as they are doing ? There seems hardly such a thing as manhood left upon the Borders . A bit scratch with a pen upon parchment is becoming of more effect than a stroke with the sword . A bairn now stands as good a chance to hold and to have , as an armed man that has a hand to take and to defend .