midnight
`` After to-night , Dumitru , there will be no turning back , '' whispered one man , who , standing on a chair , had called for the toast to Maritza on that night fatal to the deserting soldiers . `` The next few days will make the name of Sturatzberg ring through the world , and our deeds strike terror into the heart of the nation . '' Dumitru nodded and passed on , but he too kept eager watch upon the time , even as did the officer at the guardhouse . The crowd became more excited and restless as the hands of the clock crept farther and farther from midnight . `` Surely it is time now , '' they whispered at intervals . And the leaders had some difficulty in restraining them . As it was in the Toison d'Or , so it was in many a dark house where men lay hidden and waiting .