midnight
The boys had no longer any fear of the black hole discovered at the end of the main drive . An exploring party had made its way through the opening and into the workings beyond , and had found itself in a drive communicating with the Red Hand shaft . Dick , who once in an emergency had served as tool-boy in the Silver Stream for a fortnight , knew that at a lower level there was another and a much longer Red Hand drive by which access to the Silver Stream No. 1 workings was possible ; but he kept this knowledge to himself . Shortly after midnight Dick and Billy ventured to return to Waddy , with the idea of securing Billy 's goat , Hector , a sturdy black brute much admired as the most inveterate ` rusher ' in the country . With the boys of Waddy a goat that butted or ` rushed ' was highly prized as an animal of spirit . Peterson caught his goat , and then Dick , with unnecessary wariness and great waste of stratagem , ` stuck up ' his own home , and secured a parcel of food carefully left for him on the table near the unlatched window by a thoughtful mother . On Saturday the other boys turned up at the appointed time .