nearly twelve o'clock
`` They are almost all asleep by seven o'clock , '' he said to himself . `` If any of those fellows intend to do any harm to Mikail they will probably do it by ten or eleven , there will be no motive in putting it off longer ; and indeed the ward is quieter then than it is later , for some of them when they wake light a pipe and have a smoke , and many do so early in the morning so as to have their smoke before going to work . '' Five evenings passed without anything happening , and Godfrey began to think that he had been needlessly anxious , and that Mikail must understand the ways of his own people better than he did . The sixth evening had also passed off quietly , and when Godfrey thought that it must be nearly twelve o'clock he was about to pull his blanket up over his ear and settle himself for sleep when he suddenly caught sight of a stooping figure coming along . It was passing under the candle when he caught sight of it . He did not feel quite sure that his eyes had not deceived him , for it was but a momentary glance he caught of a dark object an inch or two above the level of the feet of the sleepers . Godfrey noiselessly pushed down his blanket , gathered his feet up in readiness for a spring , and grasped one of his shoes , which as usual he had placed behind the clothes-bag that served as his pillow .