midnight on Christmas Eve
In his youth he once , at midnight , fought with the devil up in the church-tower , and overcame him ; and after that everything succeeded with him . Whatever might or might not have been the reason , it is certain that in his time one after another of his neighbors was ruined , and Janus went round and took over their holdings . If he needed another horse , he played for and won it at loo ; and it was the same with everything . His greatest pleasure was to break in wild horses , and those who happened to have been born at midnight on Christmas Eve could distinctly see the Evil One sitting on the box beside him and holding the reins . He came to a bad end , as might have been expected . One morning early , the horses came galloping home to the farm , and he was found lying by the roadside with his head smashed against a tree . His son was the last master of Stone Farm of that family .