midnight
Being aware of this , my brother and I went to a place where we had seen the monster on the previous night . We had a sharp knife . We placed it with the handle in the ground and the keen blade sticking out . '' `` We watched from a distance to see if the _ feu bellanger _ would pass that way , and seeing that it did not appear ; when midnight came , we went home . But a neighbour told us on the morrow that he had seen it in the early hours of the morning , fighting against the knife . `` We straightway proceeded to the place where the knife was . Imagine our horror on finding that the blade was covered with blood . ''