midnight
When Mrs. Caukins came in , fifteen minutes later , with the information that she could see by the motion of ` Lias ' lantern that he was near the house , she found the girl huddled by the stove ; she was still wrapped in her cape . A few minutes afterwards she went up to her room for the night . Late in the evening there was a rumor about town that Champney Googe had been murdered in the Colonel 's sheepfold . Before midnight this was contradicted , and the fact established that ` Lias had found his dog stabbed to death in the fold , and that he said he had seen traces of a terrific struggle . The last news , that came in over the telephone from the quarries , was to the effect that no trace of the fugitive was found in the quarry woods and the posse were now on the county line scouring the hills to the north . The New York detectives , arriving on the evening train , were carried up to join the Flamsted force . The next day the officers of the law returned , and confirmed the report , already current in the town , that Champney Googe had outwitted them and made his escape .