midnight
Old friends were everywhere , and new ones , too , for that matter . Among them were alluring women who smiled and sparkled . Each place ` Poleon entered was the home of carnival . By midnight he was gloriously drunk . Ere daylight came he had sung himself hoarse , he had danced two holes in his moccasins , and had conducted three fist-fights to a satisfactory if not a successful conclusion . It had been a celebration that was to live in his memory . He strode blindly off to bed , shouting his complete satisfaction with himself and with the world , retired without undressing , and then sang himself to sleep , regardless of the protests of the other lodgers .