midnight
The Lieutenant , however could do little to assist the investigation , as he had learned little during his captivity , had not been permitted to see the leading spirits . As Ned had believed from the first , the men who attacked him were not inclined to do murder unnecessarily . All they sought was the sealed orders carried by the officer and the man who had followed on after him and entered unceremoniously through the window . One thing Ned could not understand was the matter of the despatches handed the Lieutenant by the man who had entered the nipa hut in so strange a manner , shortly after midnight on the night of the attack . These instructions , according to reports , countermanded the ones Lieutenant Rowe had received in person at Manila , and would have turned him back without conferring with Major Ross or the lads he had with him . The fourth man had declared , when seen by by Ned at Manila , that he had managed to follow on the heels of the Lieutenant with the supplemental instructions , and had reached the island at midnight . He said that he had entered by way of the window because the front of the house seemed to be watched with hostile intent , and because there was a ladder there ready to his hand .