midnight
If he might only have spoken he could easily have explained the trifling difficulty which prevented his `` stepping out . '' As it was , all he could do was to struggle forward bravely for a few more paces , and then again fall . The men seemed to perceive that there was something more than mere playfulness in this twice-repeated performance , and solved the difficulty by clutching him one under each arm , and materially assisting his progress by dragging him . Any of Percy 's acquaintances would have been greatly shocked had they been privileged to witness this triumphal midnight progress across the moors ; his dragging legs feebly trying to imitate the motions of walking , but looking much more like kneeling , his head dropped forward on his chest , his shoulders elevated by the grip of his conductors under his pinioned arms , and his eyes bandaged as never a blind-man 's - buff could bind them . It was a long weary march that ; but to Percy it was luxury compared with the morning among the flies on the hut floor . His conductors settled into a jog-trot , which the light weight of the boy did not much impede ; and Percy , finding the motion not difficult , and on the whole soothing , dropped off into a half-doze , which greatly assisted in passing the time . At length , however , he became aware of a halt and a hurried consultation between his captors .