midnight
The mustering of the borderers on the following morning was silent , sullen , and gloomy . The repast of that hour was wanting in the inharmonious accompaniment with which Esther ordinarily enlivened their meals ; for the effects of the powerful opiate the Doctor had administered still muddled her intellects . The young men brooded over the absence of their elder brother , and the brows of Ishmael himself were knit , as he cast his scowling eyes from one to the other , like a man preparing to meet and to repel an expected assault on his authority . In the midst of this family distrust , Ellen and her midnight confederate , the naturalist , took their usual places among the children , without awakening suspicion or exciting comment . The only apparent fruits of the adventure in which they had been engaged , were occasional upliftings of the eyes , on the part of the Doctor , which were mistaken by the observers for some of his scientific contemplations of the heavens , but which , in reality , were no other than furtive glances at the fluttering walls of the proscribed tent . At length the squatter , who had waited in vain for some more decided manifestation of the expected rising among his sons , resolved to make a demonstration of his own intentions . `` Asa shall account to me for this undutiful conduct ! ''