midnight
`` I 'll give them a fright ! '' said Raffles through his teeth . In an instant he had plucked out his revolver , smashed the window with its butt , and the slates with a bullet not a yard from the protruding head . And that , I believe , was the only shot that Raffles ever fired in his whole career as a midnight marauder . `` You did n't hit him ? '' I gasped , as the head disappeared , and we heard a crash in the corridor . `` Of course I did n't , Bunny , '' he replied , backing into the tower ; `` but no one will believe I did n't mean to , and it 'll stick on ten years if we 're caught .