midnight
It was as well that her foes should imagine her forces in full flight . Though they had all spent arduous days and nights they made the last stage of the trip at an excellent rate of speed . After Wolf-Pen Gap and its vicinity had been left behind , the unspeakable wildness of the country gave way abruptly , as it so often does in Appalachia , to higher grounds where for a little way the roads run through almost parklike stretches , now silver and cobalt under a high moon . Jerry O'Keefe had friends at Perry Center whose doors would open to him and his companions even at this inhospitable hour between midnight and dawn , and when they left Alexander at her threshold , she paused for a moment and turned with the moonlight on her face . `` Boys , '' she said softly , `` I 'm beholden ter every one of ye ! Even ef we fails ` atter all , hit hai n't because we did n't try hard and we hai n't done yit . '' Two of the men to whom she spoke were gazing at her with rapt eyes .