midnight
In it he placed a couple of light silk-rope ladders , some common wooden wedges , and an instrument which resembled a surveyor 's transit with two conical horns sticking out at the ends . We made the trip out of New York and up the Boston post-road , following the route which Cranston and Miss Giles must have taken some hours before us . In the town of Montrose , Kennedy stopped only long enough to get a bite to eat and to study up in the roads in the vicinity . It was long after midnight when we struck up into the country . The night was very dark , thick , and foggy . With the engine running as muffled as possible and the lights dimmed , Kennedy quietly jammed on the brakes as we pulled up along the side of the road . A few rods farther ahead I could make out the Belleclaire Sanatorium surrounded by its picketed stone wall .