midnight
The Koller family was not sentimental ; it throve capitally in the sinister light that fell upon the farm from so many frightened minds , and felt it as power . The men were hard drinkers and card-players ; but they never drank so much as to lose sight and feeling ; and if they played away a horse early in the evening , they very likely won two in the course of the night . When Lasse and Pelle came to Stone Farm , the older cottagers still remembered the farmer of their childhood , Janus Koller , the one who did more to improve things than any one else . In his youth he once , at midnight , fought with the devil up in the church-tower , and overcame him ; and after that everything succeeded with him . Whatever might or might not have been the reason , it is certain that in his time one after another of his neighbors was ruined , and Janus went round and took over their holdings . If he needed another horse , he played for and won it at loo ; and it was the same with everything . His greatest pleasure was to break in wild horses , and those who happened to have been born at midnight on Christmas Eve could distinctly see the Evil One sitting on the box beside him and holding the reins .