midnight
Then they came back , got into the car , and drove off . `` By that time it was growing so late that he concluded he would stay where he was and wait for me to come back , which he did . Before he left me , we had a slight breakdown , and in helping me fix it , he hurt his hand . But that same night , long after midnight , he got into Curlew 's Nest again to see if he could find out what had happened , and he found a very strange message left on the table -- a type-written warning to the one who had taken the article -LRB- as it was called ! -RRB- from its hiding-place to return it , and underneath , a printed note in pencil , saying it would be returned . He thought probably the first man had left the type-written part , and the other two had printed the answer underneath . That was all he could make of it .