midnight
`` Let 's take a chance and land , '' he heard a thick voice murmur . `` The boy has evidently either gone to bed or he is n't here . Whichever the case , he can do us no harm and I 'm not for risking the river any farther . It 's black as midnight . We might get into the current and have trouble . '' `` What 's the sense of running our heads into a noose by landing ? '' objected a second speaker .