midnight
`` That 's a true word ! '' exclaimed Stephen , quick to console his conscience . `` Jes ' look at the fac 's , now . We-uns in a plumb black midnight hear a man a-gittin ' over our fence ; we git our rifles ; a-peekin ' through the chinkin ' we ketch a glimge o ' him -- '' `` Ha ! '' cried out Timothy , with savage satisfaction , `` we seen him by the light she set her head him on ! '' He was tall and lank , with a delicately hooked nose , high cheek-bones , fierce dark eyes , and dark eyebrows , which were continually elevated , corrugating his forehead . His hair was black , short and straight , and he was clad in brown jeans , as were the others , with great cowhide boots reaching to the knee .