midnight
`` See here , Petró , you are ripe just in time : tomorrow is St. John the Baptist 's day . Only on this one night in the year does the fern blossom . Delay not . I will await thee at midnight in the Bear 's ravine . '' I do not believe that chickens await the hour when the woman brings their corn , with as much anxiety as Petrus awaited the evening . And , in fact , he looked to see whether the shadows of the trees were not lengthening , if the sun were not turning red towards setting ; and , the longer he watched , the more impatient he grew . How long it was !