midnight
Both having disembarked , a cautious examination was first made of the premises , which tending to satisfy them that all within slumbered , the canoe was secreted under the shadow of the cottage , the adventurers crossed the road in the direction taken by the figure -- Sambo following close in the rear of his master , and looking occasionally behind him , not with the air of one who fears a mortal enemy , but of one rather who shrinks from collision with a spirit of another world . The front grounds of the cottage were separated from the high road by a fence of open pallisades , in the centre of which was a small gate of the same description . It was evidently through this latter that the figure had disappeared , and as its entrance had been effected without effort . Gerald came to the conclusion , on finding the latter yield to his touch , that this was the abode of the midnight wanderer . Perhaps some young American officer , whom intrigue or frolic had led forth in disguise on an excursion from which he was now returned . His curiosity was therefore on the point of yielding to the prudence which dictated an immediate relinquishment of the adventure , when he felt his right arm suddenly seized in the convulsed and trembling grasp of his attendant . Turning to ascertain the cause , he beheld as distinctly as the gloom of the night would permit , the features of the old man worked into an expression of horror , while trembling in every joint , he pointed to the mound of earth at the far extremity of the garden , which was known to contain the ashes of those from whom his imagination had been so suddenly diverted by the reappearance of the figure .