midnight
Across the right shoulder of each was thrown a belt of worsted also , to which were attached a rude powder horn and shot pouch , with a few straggling bullets , placed there as if rather by accident than design . Each held carelessly in his left hand , and with its butt resting on the earth , a long gun ; completing an appearance , the attainment of which had , in all probability , been sedulously sought , -- that of a Canadian duck-hunter . A metamorphosis so ludicrously operated in the usually elegant costume of two young English officers , -- for such they were , -- might have been expected to afford scope to the pleasantry of their companions , and to call forth those sallies which the intimacy of friendship and the freemasonry of the profession would have fully justified . But the events that had occurred in such rapid succession , since the preceding midnight , were still painfully impressed on the recollection of all , and some there were who looked as if they never would smile again ; neither laugh nor jeering , therefore , escaped the lips of one of the surrounding group . Every countenance wore a cast of thought , -- a character of abstraction , ill suited to the indulgence of levity ; and the little conversation that passed between them was in a low and serious tone . It was evident some powerful and absorbing dread existed in the mind of each , inducing him rather to indulge in communion with his own thoughts and impressions , than to communicate them to others . Even the governor himself had , for a moment , put off the dignity and distance of his usually unapproachable nature , to assume an air of unfeigned concern , and it might be dejection , contrasting strongly with his habitual haughtiness .