twelve o’clock
I 've talked with them that has dug down to it and seen it ; but they allers lost it , 'cause they 'd call out and say suthin ' ; and the minute they spoke , away it went . ' `` Wal , so they marked off the ground ; and Primus he begun to dig , and the rest kind o ' sot round . It was so still it was kind o ' solemn . Ye see , it was past twelve o'clock , and every critter in Oldtown was asleep ; and there was two whippoorwills on the great Cap’n Brown elm-trees , that kep ' a answerin ' each other back and forward sort o ' solitary like ; and then every once in a while there 'd come a sort o ' strange whisper up among the elm-tree leaves , jest as if there was talkin ' goin ' on ; and every time Primus struck his spade into the ground it sounded sort o ' holler , jest as if he 'd been a diggin ' a grave . ` It 's kind o ' melancholy , ' says I , ` to think o ' them poor critters that had to be killed and buried jest to keep this ' ere treasure . What awful things 'll be brought to light in the judgment day ! Them poor critters they loved to live and hated to die as much as any on us ; but no , they hed to die jest to satisfy that critter 's wicked will .