midnight
Then the long hours began and those who could , slept . Braxton Wyatt and his friends again impeached the credit of Henry Ware , insinuating with sly smiles that he must be a renegade , as he had taken no part in the defense and must now be with his savage friends . To the slur Paul Cotter fiercely replied that he had warned them of the attack ; without him the station would have been taken by surprise , and that surely proved him to be no traitor . The hours between midnight and day not only grew in length , but seemed to increase in number as well , doubling and tripling , as if they would never end for the watchers in the station . The men behind the wooden walls and some of the women , too , intently searched the forest , seeking to discover movements there , but nothing appeared upon its solid black screen . Nor did any sound come from it , save the occasional gentle moan of the wind ; there was no crackling of branches , no noise of footsteps , no rattle of arms , but always the heavy silence which seemed so deadly , and which , by its monotony , was so painful to their ears . Lucy Upton went into her father 's house , ate a little and then spreading over herself a buffalo robe tried to sleep .