midnight
`` When he 's getting into his boat Jack can challenge him . He 'll probably be so scared he 'll fall into the water . '' The tree I meant was a large-waisted willow , of the weepiest variety , with girth enough and tears enough to hide us all , especially as Pat and I were darkly dressed -- she in green and I in gray . We had n't many minutes to wait ; indeed , it was but half an hour since we came out , for the clock we had heard struck again : midnight . We felt deliciously creepy ! Of course I had n't wanted Jack not mended yet from the trenches to go crawling on all fours into perfectly irrelevant caves with no Orders of Merit or Victoria Crosses attached to them . At the same time , we were keyed for comedy , and just excited enough to forget the skeletons in our closets at home : Caspians , and Shusters , and money-lenders , and unpleasant things like that .