midnight
`` I understand the patrol posts are cleverly hidden . Without a guide a man walking down the lane would trip an alarm wire and be caught in no time at all . '' Sim seemed to know all about the methods used by the Nazis to trap anyone fleeing the country . They kept walking until midnight . Then they rested for a half-hour , lying in a hedge beside the road . After midnight they moved more slowly . Several times they dived into the fields along the road to avoid patrols moving swiftly along the lane on motorcycles .