twelve
o'clock
`` What ? '' I asked , covering her shoulders with the empty sack that had been my pillow . `` Why , that the cows pray on Christmas-eve . Nurse says that at twelve o'clock to-night all the cows in their stalls will be on their knees , if only somebody is there to see . So , as it 's near twelve by the tall clock indoors , I 've come to see , '' she wound up . `` It 's quig-nogs , I expect . I never heard of it . ''