midnight
And , if that were possible , can they stand for one day , one hour , against the trained troops of England ? '' `` God knows , '' I said . I had stepped from the dining-hall out to the gun-room . Clocks in the house were striking midnight . In the dining-room the company had now taken to drinking in earnest , cheering and singing loyal songs , and through the open door whirled gusts of women 's laughter , and I heard the thud of guitar-strings echo the song 's gay words . All was cool and dark in the body of the house as I walked to the front door and opened it to bathe my face in the freshening night . I heard the whippoorwill in the thicket , and the drumming of the dew on the porch roof , and far away a sound like ocean stirring -- the winds in the pines .